Lib Dem leader Councillor Sue McGuire has met with the Council's new Head of Planning Stuart Barnes and heritage officers to look at ways of bringing in outside money to help improve the look of the central parts of Southport. Deputy Leader and town centre councillor Tony Dawson has also meet with the same officers together with representatives of the Southport Civic Society.

Focus of immediate attention is ​Stage 1 of a ​Heritage Lottery bid ​that is ​being developed to improve some of the worst buildings affecting the townscape of the Lord Street Conservation Area.

"Although there are other areas of concern," says Councillor Dawson, "the disgraceful north side of Scarisbrick Avenue walkway is probably the worst-looking set of buildings in the town centre." (Cllrs McGuire and Dawson are pictured above outside the crumbling Scarisbrick Avenue terrace).

"The Council had hoped that the private sector would take hold of this site, as has happened in Coronation Walk, and improve it but this has not happened."

"We will be pleased to work with the Civic Society and any other groups who are concerned with this area to try to set a long term plan for Southport town centre."

"In the meantime, we are happy to give support to the Council's efforts to gain Lottery support for improvement to a limited range of the worst buildings."

Councillor Sue McGuire is also positive about the efforts being made by the Council:

"I am pleased that officers are beginning to recognise the input which Southport's elected councillors and other local groups can make to improving our town centre."

"Where there are limited funds, it is important that the key priorities for improvement are set by people who live and work here. It is our job, as councillors, to bring these people together with the Council officers and to represent their views as decisions are being made."

The Councillors and John Pugh MP are keen for Southport residents to have their say about the priorities for the town Centre. These can be emailed in via: pughj@parliament.uk

keep sticking your collective heads in the sand...no one with a car (people with money to spend) goes into our once lovely town centre...we shop etc elsewhere because car drivers are penalised to park....just embrace the car and open the roads back up with plentifull of free parking

Originally Posted by torchwud

keep sticking your collective heads in the sand...no one with a car (people with money to spend) goes into our once lovely town centre...we shop etc elsewhere because car drivers are penalised to park....just embrace the car and open the roads back up with plentifull of free parking

Absolutely … Southport needs to attract customers with money to spend. If the offering isn’t good enough or convenient enough, there are plenty of alternatives for them.

Have you given this any thought at all?

I reckon that in every town centre payment for parking is a requirement.

If you don't like it... get the bus!

Originally Posted by torchwud

keep sticking your collective heads in the sand...no one with a car (people with money to spend) goes into our once lovely town centre...we shop etc elsewhere because car drivers are penalised to park....just embrace the car and open the roads back up with plentifull of free parking

Totally agree!

Originally Posted by pedoja

Have you given this any thought at all?

I reckon that in every town centre payment for parking is a requirement.

If you don't like it... get the bus!

We don't need to get the bus - we just go elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Centurion

Absolutely … Southport needs to attract customers with money to spend. If the offering isn’t good enough or convenient enough, there are plenty of alternatives for them.

And exactly how much money are these customers with money going to spend if they baulk at paying a couple of quid to park?

If there were no parking charges how many of the spaces would be taken up all day by the folk who work in the town centre.

There wouldn't be anywhere for visitors or shoppers to park.

Originally Posted by VB123

We don't need to get the bus - we just go elsewhere.

Perhaps you could give us examples of these town centres that are oases of parking and shopping paradise.
If you would rather spend more time on the road and spend extra on fuel consumption, then perhaps a re-evaluation of priorities may well be in order.

Why have one meeting when you can have two....

It's finally good to see that there's a recognition of the councillors role to work with the council rather than against, credit to Cllr Maguire for this. I'd say the Libs may want to send the other one on a course as he still comes across as he always does:

"...in the meantime we are happy to give support to the councils efforts", I bet they're delighted with that magnanimous gesture.

I do wish with these carrots of funding that are dangled, e.g. the one for the marine lake that some kind of timescale is given as otherwise the cynic in me will think it's just thrown in there for publicity....we didn't wake up on Monday to find that the buildings were looking a bit shabby so why are our long standing cllrs now interested. Putting that aside if it can be done then great, if not maybe it's time to spend some of the section 106 funds or other ward budgets in the town that seem to be talked about but rarely used.

Free parking won't suddenly make the town a postcard image again so maybe need to rethink what shops they think we want and what's stopping them from opening there as the town centre doesn't offer anything like it used to and shopping habits have changed with online and supermarkets selling a wider variety of things. Private sector is probably the best chance of funding these things but if it was me looking in from outside we don't seem that welcoming to new business.

Still don't know what happened to the election time "town centre first" campaign either and strategies need to think a bit past Lord street as we will just have multiple crumbling areas like meols cop if it's all about Lord Street/Sainsburys.

Finally, the icing on the cake would be if there could be cross party support rather than lone furrows for these things given they should all be working towards the same goal.

Well, if our locally elected wonders and their oiks do their job properly; which I am sure they all will then there seems to be a golden opportunity here for a " feasibility study ", or even two.

Just write the blank cheques out and ask no questions.

There isn't half some hogwash posted on here about driving people away - have any of them been here at the weekend - the place is jam packed. Still - that gives no opportunity to whinge about a non existent issue.

Why should public money be spent on privately owned buildings?
If the owners won't maintain them they should be fined the necessary amount to bring them up to standard.

The problem with the Scarisbrick Avenue buildings is that take-aways/nightclubs/amusement arcades on the ground level, do not lend themselves to co-habitation with quality housing/hotel apartments/tourism offerings on the upper levels.

These buildings, the 'gateway to the promenade', were once very attractive (period bay windows etc..as can be seen on the photos) that have scandalously (Landlords? Council?) fallen into disrepair, through neglect/ apathy/upkeep costs/lack of demand to a point were demolition or a mysterious fire would appear the best course of action, as they no longer appear to meet a demand or serve a useful purpose

Whilst the Councillor's are at it, maybe they could look at the following aswell:

1. Attempt to fill the plethora of town centre empty shop units (add the huge "BHS" shaped gaping hole on Chapel St to this list soon).
2. As one of the 3 main routes into the town centre, address the shanty town appearance of Eastbank St (bridge end specifically).

This list in not exhaustive..

The triangle which constitutes Scarisbrick Avenue,West St, and the promenade has always been a seedy, down-at-heel sort of area since the `60`s.

Not the sort of area one would particularly wish to be associated with; or photographed against as a background for that matter.