Deal for theatre and museum falls through

Merseytravel pull out of plans to take over Pacific Road and the Wirral Transport Museum

Merseytravel were due to take over the Wirral Transport Museum, Birkenhead Tramway and Pacific Road Arts Centre in a scheme to improve the visitor experience in the area.

The plan was to extend the transport museum over the two sites whilst keeping the performance area of the Pacific Road centre open.  They would then be connected to the Woodside Ferry Terminal and U-Boat Experience by the tramway.

The buildings are still currently owned by Wirral Council who wanted to get rid of the assets as part of the previous administrations Strategic Asset Review which saw a number of buildings handed over to community and private sector groups to won.

On Friday Merseytravel confirmed that the councillors on the Integrated Transport Authority voted not going to pursue the take over.

Cllr Mark Dowd, Chairman of Merseytravel said; “In this economic climate it is impossible for Merseytravel to commit to this kind of project.

“We recently saw cuts of around two thirds to our government block grant, and sustaining existing services will be tough enough.”

In a statement to Heart, Jim Wilkie, Interim Chief Executive at Wirral Council said: "This announcement was only made last night (Thursday) and we are still looking at the implications and options for how we can move forward."