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News Commercial
NEW PRESCOT PUBLIC SERVICES SECTOR KNOWSLEY Council has agreed to fund a £1.2m programme to create a new public services centre in Prescot. The proposals will see the town’s one stop shop, library and museum brought together into the current one stop shop building in Prescot Town Centre. Major refurbishment work will be carried out to improve the current building and make it suitable to accommodate the library and museum services. The proposal is expected to support the regeneration of Prescot Town Centre by increasing footfall in the shopping centre to help revitalise the town centre and surrounding areas. The refurbishment will provide modern, fit-for-purpose facilities for the one stop shop, library and museum services. The council will conduct a competitive tender exercise in the near future to appoint a contractor to carry out the works. It is anticipated that construction work will begin in October and the new facilities will open early in 2012. Mike Harden, Knowsley Council deputy chief executive, said: “In the current financial climate with the severe budget pressures we face, the savings we can make with this programme will help to protect these key services for people who live in Prescot, along with those who work in or visit the town.” In addition to the new public services centre, the council is also investing heavily in new leisure facilities for Prescot and the development of a strategic framework to shape the future shape and prosperity of the town.
16 MOVE COMMERCIAL
NWDA sells assets
The Transport and General Workers’ Union Building
AHEAD of the planned closure of the North West Development Agency in March 2012, the NWDA is planning to sell seven substantial sites it owns on the open market. The sales are part of the Government announcement to dispose of the property and land assets owned by
Regional Development Agencies. In an NWDA plan looking at assets it identified the key eight sites that would go on the open market, stating that these sites had been identified because of their less strategic nature to the NWDA. The sites about to be disposed of include the Speke Freeholds in
Merseyside,which are strips of land located along Speke Boulevard and Wirral International Business Park on Ferry View. This development land is under a two phase scheme. Phase one will include five new industrial units ranging from 6,000 sq ft to 45,000 sq ft. Lea Green Industrial Estate in St Helens is also on the list as well as Hooton Business Park at Ellesmere Port, which is a site of 23 acres of development land near the Vauxhall plant. The NWDA is also disposing of two and a half acres of development land at Rossmore Road, Ellesmere Port. The list is completed by Station Road in Silloth, Cumbria and Borders Business Park, Cumbria. The Transport and General Workers’ Union Building in Liverpool city centre is also on the list, but was sold last year to Unite and is now occupied by the Unite union. NWDA has a large, varied and complex portfolio of assets and liabilities. The broad thrust of their proposed approach is to divest themselves of assets and liabilities prior to closure.
South Liverpool NHS Treatment Centre opens its doors THE BRAND new South Liverpool NHS Treatment Centre has opened and is offering a wide range of NHS services. The Treatment Centre, located on the site of the former Sir Alfred Jones Memorial Hospital on Church Road, in Garston, includes an NHS Walk-in Centre, providing treatment for minor injuries and illnesses without the need for an appointment. Gideon Ben-Tovim, Chair of Liverpool PCT, said: “It is a fantastic facility that will serve not only the people of South Liverpool but the whole city. Having so many services under one roof is a real opportunity for us to drive health improvement and ensure services previously only housed within hospitals, are now available in the local community, making them much more accessible to patients.” The site will also house a drop-in
sexual health service, offering advice and counselling. The centre will host a wide range of community clinics and specialist treatment, including Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), gynaecology, dermatology, urology, dietics (food and nutrition advice), mental
health, and IV therapy. A pharmacy and community cafe are also on site. Some of the services offered at the Treatment Centre were previously provided from temporary accommodation on Banks Road, Garston.
Garston NHS Treatment Centre