A new public square and more in the new revamped Lime Street

New images showing a radical revamp to Liverpool’s historic Lime Street have been revealed.

A series of CGIs depict a major redesign to create a world class “gateway experience” that includes a new public square outside Lime Street station and an expanded plateau outside St George’s Hall.

The scheme is part of a wider £45m programme that will transform connectivity and how people move around Liverpool city centre – by foot, bike, car, coach and bus.

Liverpool City Council has revealed the images ahead of a public information exercise on the Lime Street plans, which are central to the Liverpool City Centre Connectivity (LCCC) scheme, at Central Library on Wednesday, 12 December from 10am to 6pm.

The widening of St George’s Plateau, to begin in early 2020, will see Lime Street reduced to a single carriageway for northbound traffic only with access in to the city centre via St John’s Lane.

A key aim of the LCCC scheme is to achieve a major reduction in congestion in the city centre by creating a new hub for buses to park and layover in. This project includes the proposed repositioning of Queen Square bus station for northbound bus routes and Liverpool One bus station for southbound bus routes, which will be underpinned by the Lime Street redesign.

It is estimated the new hub and re-routed bus services will save over 750,000 bus miles and 2,000 tonnes of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere every year. A planning application is scheduled to be heard by the Planning Committee on Tuesday, 8 January.

The Lime Street designs also include the installation of a water feature at the southern end of the plateau, which lies within the city’s World Heritage Site. A proposed dedicated cycle lane will no longer feature in the scheme following feedback from the public consultation last year.

The Lime Street revamp will also connect to the improvement works carried out by Ion Developments Ltd with a widened, boulevard style pavement running the entire length up to the Adelphi Hotel, which sits within the Knowledge Quarter Gateway. This area is currently subject to a new masterplan, which will finalised in Spring 2019.

The LCCC scheme aims to boost transport links and further fuel Liverpool’s international appeal to investors, shoppers and tourists with its visitor economy, currently valued at £3.6bn/year, expected to grow by 25% over the next 10 years.

The scheme is receiving £38.4m from the Local Growth Fund with local match funding of £7m and is a major part of Liverpool City Council’s £500m Better Roads programme.Local Growth Funding is awarded to the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and invested through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority through its Strategic Investment Fund.

Councillor James Noakes, Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “For millions of people Lime Street is the gateway into Liverpool and these stunning new designs illustrate the potential for creating a world class welcome.

“A new public square outside Lime Street station and an expanded plateau at St George’s Hall will transform the experience of arriving in Liverpool and how people interact with arguably the UK’s greatest collection of iconic cultural venues.

‘’ We’ve made some minor changes to the design as a result of the original public consultation but these plans for Lime Street cannot be taken in isolation. They are key to the wider transformation of how the city centre functions in the future.

“This redesign of Lime Street is critical to the proposed new bus hub and changes to Queen Square bus station both of which will ultimately create a cleaner, greener city centre for everyone to enjoy.”

Another element of the LCCC scheme is Liverpool’s first dedicated coach park will also be created to accommodate the boom in coach visitors to the city centre, which last year equated to 160,000 more tourists than those who arrived via the cruise terminal.

Phase one of the scheme is to begin in January on this timetable:

January ‘19 to Autumn ‘19 – Victoria Street: This will include removal of bus layovers as well as tree planting and new public realm features, creating wider footways and options for street café’s.
January ‘19 to May ‘19 – Moorfields: Improving the footways and introducing new trees to enhance the area and the entrance into Moorfields Station.
March ‘19 to May ‘19 – City Bus Hub: Creating a new bus layover with welfare facilities in Old Haymarket for buses leaving Queen Square bus station so reducing congestion and pollution in the city centre.
April ‘19 to September ‘19 – Brownlow Hill: Creating a new cycle link with Lime Street, and improved public areas that create a place for enjoying and accessing the Knowledge Quarter.
June ‘19 to November ‘19 – Tithebarn Street: Includes creation of new cycleway to enhance links with Lime Street and the waterfront.
July ‘19 to November ‘19 – City Coach Park: On Riverside Drive – a dedicated facility with provision to accommodate 30 vehicles.

The second stage will see the installation of new bridges at Canning Dock and a series of highways improvements along The Strand, with work scheduled to begin in late 2019.

Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth, Jake Berry, said: “We’re committed to boosting economic growth across the whole of the Northern Powerhouse and building a Britain fit for the future.

“As these exciting images of the redesign show, the £38.4m million investment from the Local Growth Fund for the Liverpool City Centre Connectivity Scheme will not only reduce congestion and create a stunning new gateway to the City, but ensure that the people of Liverpool have the transport infrastructure needed to help grow our economy across the Northern Powerhouse.”