News

Working in partnership with Knowsley Council and procurement specialist Fusion21, housebuilder Bloor Homes has surpassed its social value targets at its Elowen development in Halsnead Garden Village, as part of the Council’s planning obligations.

Fusion21 has been working with Knowsley Council using its Social Value Through Planning initiative to support the delivery and monitoring of social value throughout the construction phase of the development.

The collaboration between Bloor Homes, Fusion21 and Knowsley Council has delivered a range of positive outcomes for the community, including:

• 11 employment opportunities created for Knowsley residents
• Three subcontracting packages with Knowsley businesses
• Three new apprenticeship opportunities for young people in Knowsley

The 11 employment opportunities created are helping to fill key roles at the Bloor site as part of the Halsnead Garden Village development, including a local National House Building Council (NHBC) inspector, ceramic tiler, groundworker, joiner, sales advisor and six bricklayers. This has achieved the social value aim of increasing the amount of Knowsley residents working on-site at the Bloor Homes development.

What’s more, two local young people who started as apprentices on the development have now been hired as full-time bricklayers.

A primary focus of this collaboration was to create more opportunities for local residents that will lead to quality full-time employment.

Cllr Tony Brennan, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic, said: “Construction of new housing at Halsnead Garden Village is not only creating much needed new homes, it is also providing employment and apprenticeships for Knowsley residents and creating supply chain contracts for Knowsley businesses. Additionally, the employment site to the south of the M62 will deliver around 1,000 new jobs.

“Halsnead Garden Village is the largest combined housing and employment development in the City Region and will provide a significant boost to the local economy.”

Sarah Maguire, Head of Social Value at Fusion21 said: “At Fusion21, we work with local authorities and developers to ensure construction projects create meaningful, sustainable, and long-term benefits for communities.

“Through this partnership, Bloor Homes has provided jobs, apprenticeships, and opportunities that will have a lasting impact on local people and businesses in Knowsley. This is exactly the kind of positive change Knowsley Council champions through its Social Value Framework.”

James Clark, Managing Director at Bloor Homes’ North West region, said: “We are proud to have exceeded our social value targets in Knowsley, and it has been very rewarding to welcome so many local people and businesses into our team at the Elowen development. We will be continuing our work experience scheme into 2025 and look forward to welcoming more young people to learn about the high standards of building we have at Bloor Homes.”

Knowsley Council’s Cabinet has approved a £1.87m investment to create new primary school places in Whiston to accommodate a growing demand for school places. Funding has been secured from the nearby Halsnead Garden Village development.

Thanks to a collaborative partnership between Knowsley Council and the Wade Deacon Trust and funding secured from housing developers creating new homes at the Garden Village, an additional 90 school places will be created at the ‘Outstanding’ Whiston Willis Primary Academy

This expansion is being funded by £1.35m in Section 106 developer contributions, with the remaining £521,000 provided by the Wade Deacon Academy Trust.

Cllr David Lonergan, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “Having reached the milestone of 200 occupied homes at Halsnead Garden Village, I am delighted that we are able to provide additional school places in readiness to meet increasing demand.

“We not only wanted to ensure there was sufficient capacity for current and new residents but that we also supported existing local schools – that we know are well regarded and performing well – to expand and welcome more children and help integration into our communities. This is just the first phase of our plan. We will continue to monitor demand to ensure additional places will be created when they are needed.”

In all, it is anticipated that over £6.5m will be secured in Section 106 developer contributions from the Halsnead Garden Village development to fund the creation of new primary school places.

The Council is keen to support established schools in the local area that are judged to be “Outstanding” or “Good” by Ofsted that can accommodate an increased intake.

Halsnead Garden Village is the largest combined housing and employment development in the Liverpool City Region, delivering approximately 1,600 new, quality homes and at least 22.5 hectares of employment land.

Halsnead Garden Village will also provide 33 hectares of new greenspaces and a new, 28 hectare Country Park.

Plans have been approved to support the continued development of a major new employment site within Halsnead Garden Village.

The Symmetry Park development in the south of the Garden Village is delivering new employment space on the site of the former Cronton Colliery – a site which had been largely unused since the colliery’s closure in 1984.

In March this year Yodel, the first occupiers at Symmetry Park, commenced operations at a new 161,900 sq ft logistics facility.

Final plans submitted by Tritax Symmetry have now been approved by Knowsley Council as part of a reserved matters application for the next phase of the development at Symmetry Park, which comprises 495,720 sq ft of storage and distribution floorage and ancillary offices across two warehouses.

The proposed development includes associated gatehouses, security facilities, service yards and HGV parking, plant, vehicular and cycle parking, landscaping and associated works. You can find full details here.

The Symmetry Park development will create hundreds of new jobs and provide a significant annual boost to the local economy.

Cllr Tony Brennan, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, said: “The employment site at Halsnead Garden Village has already created a significant number of new jobs, breathing new life into a site largely unused since the closure of Cronton Colliery in 1984. Symmetry Park will also deliver a major long-term economic boost.”

Halsnead Garden Village is the largest combined housing and employment site in the Liverpool City Region. Once complete it will deliver approximately 1,600 new, quality homes and at least 22.5 hectares of employment land.

Halsnead Garden Village will also provide 33 hectares of new greenspaces and a new, 28 hectare Country Park.

The first new homes at Your Housing Group’s development at Halsnead Garden Village will be completed in early 2025.

Knowsley Council Leader Cllr Graham Morgan and Cllr Tony Brennan, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, joined Your Housing Group and Countryside Partnerships along with various key stakeholders to see the progress at ‘The Woodlands’ housing development within the Halsnead Garden Village.

The £44 million development will offer a mix of shared ownership, rent to buy and affordable rent housing, whilst providing a range of 1 bed apartments, 2, 3 and 4 bed houses.

The first new homes remain on track to be handed over by early 2025. Once complete the development will deliver 158 new homes by early 2026.

The proposal is supported by Homes England through £7.5 million of grant funding.

Halsnead Garden Village is the largest combined housing and employment site in the Liverpool City Region and was one of 14 sites in England awarded Garden Village Status by the Government in 2017.

Cllr Graham Morgan, Leader of Knowsley Council, said: “The Halsnead Garden Village development will deliver high quality homes to help meet the demand in the borough. It’s exciting to see the Your Housing Group development take shape as this will provide a range of affordable housing options as part of the wider development.”

Cllr Tony Brennan, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, said: “I am delighted that a significant number of much needed, high quality affordable homes will be delivered within Halsnead Garden Village as a result of the Your Housing Group development. This development alone will mean that a substantial number of the proposed 1,600 homes at the Garden Village will be affordable and this is exactly what many of our residents have been asking for.”

The Your Housing Group planning application was developed in line with Knowsley Council’s requirements and the Garden Village design principles.

Lorraine Donnelly, Director of Development for Your Housing Group, said: “The Woodlands at Halsnead Garden Village site is progressing at pace and we are very pleased that these first handovers will take place early next year. Your Housing Group has ambitious growth and construction plans to deliver much needed affordable housing across the region. The Garden Village principles with community facilities and green spaces underline our commitment to creating communities that people can thrive in.

Gemma Hardy, Managing Director of Vistry Merseyside & Cheshire West, said: “By working in partnership with Your Housing Group, we’re delivering a number of new, mixed-tenure affordable homes, which will give local people greater housing choices. The development is progressing well and as planned and we’re looking forward to seeing the first residents move into their new homes next year.”

You can find more information about The Woodlands development here https://www.yourhousinggroup.co.uk/im-looking-for-a-home/property-search/the-woodlands-at-halsnead-garden-village/

Section 106 contributions from housebuilders delivering the Halsnead Garden Village development will help provide temporary accommodation for homeless households in Knowsley.

An allocation of £1.4m secured from developers by Knowsley Council will be used to fund the purchase of private sector residential properties and re-purpose existing vacant Council-owned assets to provide more homeless temporary accommodation within the borough.

The investment has been approved by the Council’s Cabinet.

Over the past six years, demand for temporary accommodation has increased considerably. As at 29 October 2024, there were 89 Knowsley households in temporary accommodation.

In response to the rising demand, the Council has increased its temporary accommodation provision by purchasing and leasing private residential properties. This has led to an 18% reduction in the use of hotel provision and improved the experience for households experiencing homelessness crises.

In September 2023, the Cabinet allocated £1m of funding to purchase residential properties alongside the refurbishment/re-purposing of existing vacant Council-owned assets for the purpose of providing homeless temporary accommodation. Alongside existing allocated Strategic Housing resources and funding received through the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund, a budget of £1.402m was available at the start of 2024/25 for these purposes.

The increased investment has funded an increase in the number of Council-owned temporary accommodation properties from 63 to 81. With the increased funding the Council has proposed increasing this provision to over 100 units.

Cllr Tony Brennan, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, said: “This funding secured from Section 106 developer contributions will support the re-purposing of existing Council assets and the purchase of private sector residential homes for temporary accommodation. This successful approach has already led to a reduced reliance on our use of hotel provision but, unfortunately, homeless demand continues to exceed our provision and we need to do more.

“This investment will have a positive long-term impact on Council finances by reducing the need to use hotel provision, the cost of which exceeds the level of Government subsidy, resulting in this cost having to be met from Council resources. More importantly it will improve the experience of homeless households during their housing crises.”

You can read the full Cabinet report here.

School pupils from around Knowsley and St Helens have been doing their bit to make their community a kinder place after taking up a challenge set by housebuilder Taylor Wimpey to mark World Kindness Day.

World Kindness Day is celebrated internationally on 13 November every year. It was introduced by the World Kindness Movement in 1998 as part of their mission to create a kinder world.

The housebuilder, who are delivering new homes as part of the Halsnead Garden Village development, asked pupils from schools across the region to take part by carrying out small acts of kindness. In Knowsley, Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School in Prescot and St Leo’s and Southmead Catholic Primary School in Whiston took up the challenge and pupils came up with a range of inspiring ways to support their community.

Among the acts of kindness the children carried out were:

Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School

• Ava in Year 5 made a ‘Get well soon’ card and delivered it to Whiston Hospital for the patients
• Caleb in Year 5 donated to his local foodbank. He said: “Donating this food makes me realise how lucky I am.”
• Entela in Year 5 took pound coins from her piggy bank to give to homeless people in Liverpool, and also helped her neighbour with her walking aid
• Lucy in Year 5 helped to cook her brother’s favourite shepherd’s pie for his tea to make him feel better because he had chicken pox

St Leo’s and Southmead Catholic Primary School

• Several pupils wrote poems and created posters about what being kind means, including Ariana, Ava, Heloise, Olivia and Safia
• Reggie helped his dad wash the car and his mum wash the dishes
• Max helped his friend Rufus up after he fell over while playing hockey
• Levinieh asked God to help her and others to show kindness

As a thank you, all four schools will receive a £250 donation to help fund new equipment and treats for the classes that took part, and Taylor Wimpey will present the pupils with a certificate to recognise their kind acts.

Helen Scott, Year 5 Teacher at Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, said: “The Year 5 children loved taking part in the random act of kindness challenge and it really underpins our school mission statement of ‘Loving, Learning and Reaching Out to All’. I am really proud of the children’s efforts to live out our mission statement at home and in our local community. What a lovely opportunity to work with a company on this project.”

Angela Tambourini, Headteacher at St Leo’s and Southmead Catholic Primary School, said: “Taking part in the Taylor Wimpey ‘acts of kindness’ challenge really brought home to our children the importance of living out our school gospel values.  Learning how our children are being kind not only in school but in their community was very humbling for us and highlighted just how important it is to be the very best version of ourselves.  As always our children rose to the challenge and inspired each other to go above and beyond with their kind acts.”

Jennifer Burns, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey North West, said: “I think we can all agree that a little kindness goes a long way, and our teams really try to go above and beyond when helping customers to settle into their new homes.

“We were excited to see what the pupils did to mark World Kindness Day and we certainly weren’t disappointed. They showed such a range of kind and caring behaviour and it’s clear that our future is in good hands with these youngsters. Thank you to everyone who took part.”

A community facility that forms part of the wider Halsnead Garden Village development is thriving following improvement works at the site.

Improvement works delivered by Knowsley Council at Mellors Pond in Whiston have significantly enhanced the appearance of the community facility and contributed to the improved quality of the water and biodiversity of the site.

New, fully accessible fishing pegs have been installed at Mellors Pond, which has benefited from levelling and landscaping works, the creation of new areas of wetland habitat and tree planting and water quality improvements.

Funding from the Environment Agency for a new solar powered aerator has been secured by the Mellors Angling Association and new boundary fencing – in keeping with the Halsnead Garden Village traditional design principles – has also been installed at Mellors Pond as part of the improvement works. A new community noticeboard is to be installed which will include updates information from both the Council and Mellors Angling Association.

The enhancements will improve the climate change resilience of the site through better drainage and increasing biodiversity through habitat management and creation.

Cllr Shelley Powell, Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods, said: “The landscaping works and new trees are really starting to ‘bed in’ and mature and you can see a significant improvement to the water quality and overall appearance of the site. The anglers who use Mellors Pond have really taken ownership of the site and will help ensure it is a sustainable facility that everyone will enjoy.”

Joseph Rittenburg, Chair of the Mellors Angling Association, said: “The improvements are fantastic. Not only will the enhanced facilities help us attract new members, it will help make Mellors Pond more accessible to everyone. The anglers are taking real pride in the site and that will help ensure it’s a facility the whole community will enjoy for years to come.”

Significant investment will be ploughed into increasing school places in Whiston to support the growing population as the Halsnead Garden Village development continues to progress.

Three local primary schools will benefit from an increased capacity as part of a phased delivery over the next 10 years.

The Council has identified popular, established schools in the local area that are judged to be “Outstanding” or “Good” by Ofsted that can accommodate an increased intake.

Plans include the initial expansion at Whiston Willis Primary Academy to accommodate a two-form entry in time for the start of the new school year in September 2025.

Halsnead Primary School will also expand to support two-form entry by September 2027.

If there is demand, a further proposal includes the expansion of St Leo’s and Southmead Catholic Primary School, delivered in two phases, to increase to two and two and a half form entry, by September 2029 and September 2034 respectively.

The proposed second phase of expansion at St Leo’s and Southmead will be kept under review dependant on the demand for places at the time.

The investment in the additional primary school places in the area is funded through Section 106 contributions secured from developers at Halsnead Garden Village.

Cllr David Lonergan, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “I am delighted that we are able to provide additional school places to meet the demand from the new residents at Halsnead Garden Village. The Council has identified popular schools that are already well regarded within the community with a strong track record and a good reputation. There will be an equitable spread of new places across the three schools and the expansions will progress over the next 10 years as more new homes are delivered.”

Once complete Halsnead Garden Village will be the largest combined housing and employment development in the Liverpool City Region, delivering approximately 1,600 new, quality homes and at least 22.5 hectares of employment land.

Halsnead Garden Village will also provide 33 hectares of new greenspaces and a new, 28 hectare Country Park.

Knowsley Council has granted planning permission for 120 new homes as part of the Halsnead Garden Village development.

The application by the Vistry Group will include a mix of 22 four-bed homes, 86 three-bed homes and 12 two-bed apartments. Twenty of the new properties will be made available as affordable homes.

Access to the new homes will be via Lickers Lane, as part of the wider Garden Village development.

Once complete Halsnead Garden Village will be the largest combined housing and employment development in the Liverpool City Region, delivering approximately 1,600 new, quality homes and at least 22.5 hectares of employment land.

Halsnead Garden Village will also provide 33 hectares of new greenspaces and a new, 28 hectare Country Park.