£56 Million Investment for Huyton and Prescot

(Photograph courtesy of Knowsley MBC)

Huyton and Prescot are to receive £56.37 million thanks to European funding along with private and public investment, to put the area on the map. Huyton and Prescot Strategic Investment Area (HP SIA), formally Huyton and Prescot SSDA, have £56.37 million to invest over the next 5 years, creating thousands of new jobs and supporting hundreds of businesses.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) will be investing £9.11 million until 2006, with match funding from the private and public sectors, NWDA, Knowsley MBC and the Highways Agency, attracting £47.26 million worth of investment, making a total of £56.37m for the area.

The programme aims to create 7,600 new jobs, 125,000 m2 of new floorspace, 41 hectares of land improvement and support for 3,000 small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Programme Manager, Alan Griffiths said, “We have three main strategies which include supporting businesses, developing physical infrastructure and sites, and ensuring that the local community have access to employment opportunities through lifelong learning. It is a fantastic opportunity for the area to pull in further investment and generate economic growth over the next five years in Huyton and Prescot.”

To take the HP SIA programme forward, a new team has been created, lead by Jean Myers, Head of Regeneration Programmes for Knowsley MBC, with Alan Griffiths, Programme Manager, Karen Black, Finance, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and Helen Brennan, Media and Communications Officer.

Chris Hollywell, Chair of the HP SIA Board said, “It is very encouraging to see links being maintained between Huyton Business Park and Huyton/Prescot SIA following on from the success achieved from working in partnership with Huyton SRB.”