'Once in a lifetime' plans for the regeneration of two town centres have been revised following public feedback.
The ECHO previously reported how St Helens Borough Council had drawn up plans to completely transform both St Helens and Earlestown town centres.
The plans have now been through a consultation period, allowing members of the public to have their say.
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The updated plans will now feature a new multi-storey car park in St Helens town centre to cater for shoppers and night time visitors, this comes as one of the town's largest car parks, the Chalon Way multi storey, was demolished last year.
As well as this, plans for a covered market will be explored in Earlestown, with the council working closely with traders to develop the best type of structure.
Following the public consultations, the council claims that 'of those who responded, 88 per cent supported plans for St Helens town centre and 94 per cent supported those for Earlestown.'
The first phase plans for St Helens will include a new bus station, new market hall, as well as new housing and a new 'international hotel brand'.
While first phase plans for Earlestown will include a partially covered addition to the historic market, and improvements to Market Street, between the train station and market square.
Councillor Richard McCauley, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning, said: “Thank you so much to those who took the time to look at the plans, we know that there were more than 38,000 views of the plans online with more than 400 comments made on the back of viewing the plans. It is clear that businesses and residents in our borough are behind these plans and this is already building confidence in our local economy that our vision will bring real, positive change for our borough.
“There were some valid points raised in the consultation and we’ve listened to that feedback. While we want to encourage more people to use public transport with improved bus and train connectivity as part of our vision for a greener, more environmentally friendly borough, we recognise the need for quality car parking, particularly in St Helens town centre.
"The new plan will provide safe parking day and night to make sure visitors can make the most of all attractions.
“We also recognise that people think that town centre living means only apartments, but our plans are to provide a mix that includes town house style family living to add more variety to the types of housing available in the borough.
“Our outline proposals for a partially covered market space in Earlestown have been endorsed and this will enable the plans to be developed with the market traders to find the right size and design of facility to support this jewel of the town centre.
“The message throughout the consultation has been clear to us and our partners at ECF that residents and businesses want to see us get moving, and if the frameworks are approved we hope to put forward planning applications in the coming months.”
The updated plan frameworks will be discussed at the next cabinet meeting on February 4.
