We're working hard to make good the mess that is this overbudget and delayed high street regeneration

Grange Road in Birkenhead town centre has been dominated by construction work for over a year as part of a regeneration scheme of the wider town centre. The scheme was intended to “improve the look and feel of these areas” but the project has been slammed due to delays and disruption.

The scheme is likely £12m over budget and questions have been raised about who knew what. The scheme was due to be finished in June 2025 and an independent investigation is expected following a scathing internal inquiry.

At a regeneration committee on September 15, highways officers for the local authority said they couldn’t offer a date but are working hard to get the scheme finished as quickly as possible. Deputy council leader Cllr Julie McManus praised the highways team, who took over the poorly-managed project from regeneration in recent months, for “working really hard to make good the mess we are in.”

A report published before the meeting said the council initially only paid for a contract manager to be on site one day a week. Highways officers said this was not enough for a difficult project like this and firm Walter Sime has now been commissioned on a near full time basis.

Due to unfinished designs and poor ground investigations done before work began, a report before a regeneration committee on September 15 said council contractor Graham has been able to claim 223 compensation events which has racked up the bill for Wirral.

The local authority is currently working out how to pay the estimated bill of £24.3m with a decision expected in November. However a report before councillors said efforts to cut delays and reduce costs was difficult.

Part of this is because the council imported all the paving materials for the project, understood to be granite imported from Portugal. A report before councillors said: “The paving materials were all ordered at the outset to ensure consistency between different batches.

“This is not unusual but is a significant cost which prevents other quicker and cheaper options being considered.”

Another issue is Graham was allowed to work across the entire town centre from the beginning of the scheme. This led to “a greater degree of disruption by allowing excavation in all areas of the works.”

However things appear to be improving with 70% of the project now finished and parts of Conway Street nearing completion. Catherine Street and St John Street have now been removed from the project in the hopes Grange Road can fully reopen by Christmas though there is no guarantee.

Cameras are also expected to be installed to manage and tackle antisocial parking at St John Street. Cllr McManus said the situation was “just unreal” while Cllr Pat Cleary said it had become a “de-facto car park.”

He said this was “completely unacceptable and in my view dangerous to the public.” The Birkenhead councillor also said it was absolutely critical Grange Road was reopened as soon as possible “to reflect what local businesses have gone through.”

Liberal Democrat Cllr Helen Raymond said: “We’ve all seen the disaster on Grange Road, I daren’t take my husband anywhere near it because I can’t face it,” adding: “If you are faced with barriers everywhere, you are going to go to Liverpool and we need to get people back into Birkenhead.”

Conservative Cllr Andrew Gardner said the council needed to change the way it managed these schemes, pointing to increased costs faced by the controversial West Kirby sea wall scheme. He said: “This is still people’s money and we can’t keep wasting it on poor contracts and poor contract management and the theory that if someone else is paying for it, then it’s alright.”