Mayor reveals four-year roadmap to develop the Liverpool City Region

Mayor Steve Rotheram has unveiled his four-year roadmap to making the Liverpool City Region the best place to grow up, grow a family and grow a business.

Building on his election manifesto, the Corporate Plan sets out how the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will continue its work to increase productivity and drive growth through investment in major infrastructure projects, improvements to public transport and by building on the region’s world-leading strengths in health and life sciences, digital and creative and advanced manufacturing.

The Mayor said the new government showed signs of being “the most pro-devolution Britain had ever seen” and that would offer “the chance to turbocharge our work” – with local and national growth ambitions aligned and mayors acting as the delivery arm of national government.

More than 120,000 adults will be trained with the skills needed to secure tens of thousands of new well-paid jobs and work will continue to end the postcode lottery that denies local people the opportunities to reach their full potential.

The plan also details how public transport and AI will be developed and harnessed and how the world-famous city region will be promoted as a science, innovation and creative powerhouse to achieve a 25% rise in direct foreign investment by 2030.

Delivering new well-designed, energy-efficient, affordable homes to tackle the housing crisis – including a return to public housing at scale – is a major priority and the plan is underpinned by a drive for deeper devolution and strengthening worker’s rights, sustainability, equality, diversity and inclusion.

Introducing the Corporate Plan, Mayor Rotheram says:

“Tackling inequality, driving inclusive growth and ensuring that we leave the next generation and the planet with a better inheritance than we received are at the core of my politics and my administration.

“I want to make the Liverpool City Region the best place to grow up, grow a family, and grow a business.

“Since I was elected, we have helped tens of thousands of people into jobs; rolled out world-class publicly owned trains; helped to build 30,000 homes for families to put down roots; given hundreds of thousands of our residents get new qualifications and begun the process of bringing our buses back into public control.

“The Liverpool City Region is a place steeped in history, a place full of pioneers and talent. While we are proud of our history, we are ready to look forward to an even brighter and more prosperous future. This is our blueprint for getting there.

“Working alongside our new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and his cabinet, I will ensure that the next chapter in our illustrious history will not be written for us in Westminster or Whitehall – but by us here in the Liverpool City Region.”

The Liverpool City Region’s economy has grown by £3bn since the Mayor was first elected in 2017 and 60,000 more residents are in employment – double the national rate of employment growth.

The Corporate Plan highlights the authority’s track record of delivery in presenting the case for deeper devolution, with a single pot of money, that will give local people greater power to realise the Mayor’s vision.

Central to the Plan is growing the city region’s economy by investing in its people, place, transport and digital infrastructure – building on its strengths while addressing underlying challenges.

Approved at July’s Combined Authority meeting, the Plan also includes a pledge by the Mayor to hold public question times and stage Combined Authority meetings across the city region.