St. Modwen signs agreement to begin multi-million pound Kirkby transformation

Regeneration firm St. Modwen has signed an agreement to begin its transformation of Kirkby town centre.

The deal, a joint commitment with Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, follows St. Modwen’s acquisition of the town centre from retail giant Tesco for £35.8m in October last year.

The Birmingham-headquartered company has worked alongside the local authority to develop its plan to overhaul central Kirkby with a new supermarket and 100,000 sq ft of additional retail space.

St. Modwen’s projects director, Paul Batho, said: “From the minute we acquired Kirkby town centre we have made it our priority to drive forward immediate improvements and this agreement with Knowsley council now paves the way for wider, more significant change in the centre.

“Our plans will see the strengthening of the existing town centre and the provision of new accommodation to be developed to accommodate the requirements of modern retailers.”

He continued: “We have received very strong interest from both retailers and leisure operators, so much so we hope to also be able to introduce a leisure offer to the town which would be anchored by a cinema.

“We will be undertaking public consultation on our plans in the next few months and we are on track to submit a formal planning application later this year.”

The Cabinet member for regeneration and economic development with Knowsley council, Cllr Mike Murphy, said he is “delighted” to be making progress in bringing the Kirkby town centre redevelopment plan to fruition.

He said: “The council and our partners have delivered major multi-million pound improvements to the town centre and wider Kirkby area in recent years.

“I’m now very much looking forward to working with St. Modwen to bring forward the much-needed retail and leisure developments which will transform the town centre for the benefit of our residents, businesses and visitors.”

Mike Matthews, St. Modwen’s shopping centre manager, is responsible for managing the day-to-day running of the development.

He said of the progress made to date: “The people of Kirkby need and deserve to see improvements made to the town centre as quickly as possible and it has been our priority to make a change from day one.

“St. Modwen has made a significant long-term commitment to this town and of course it will take time to deliver the bigger overall development plans of which this agreement signifies the start. In the meantime, we are going to make as many changes as possible to improve the experience for shoppers, the business opportunities for retailers and to ensure that Kirkby has a town centre it can be proud of once again.”

The team running the site is now installing a system for counting footfall levels in the area, which will collect data to serve as a benchmark for future figures.

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