New Ferry gas explosion: Developer appointment 'a game-changer'

Several buildings collapsed after the 2017 blast

The appointment of a developer to rebuild an area which was gutted by a huge gas explosion is a "game-changer", a residents group chairman has said.

Wirral Council said The Regenda Group had won a tender to draw up plans for the site of the blast in New Ferry.

More than 60 properties were destroyed by the explosion in March 2017.

New Ferry Residents Association's Mark Craig said while it had been "painful", it had "given us a chance to wipe the slate clean" and improve the area.

Shop owner Pascal Blasio set off the blast on 25 March 2017 in an attempt to claim insurance, injuring 81 people.

He was jailed for 19 years for causing an explosion and fraud in 2019.

Wirral Council said the new project will bring 71 new homes to the area.

Tony Jones, the chairman of the council's regeneration committee, said the regeneration of the area "has been and remains a complex and long-term process due to the majority of the land and buildings earmarked... being in private ownership".

"It has taken investment and a lot of hard work to get us to the point where a large proportion of these sites are now owned by the council," he said.

"We have been able to appoint the Regenda Group as our preferred developer with a great deal of confidence that, together, we will deliver the New Ferry Masterplan within the next couple of years."

Mr Craig said he was pleased that replacement shops would be part of the regeneration, alongside the new housing.

"The explosion was painful for a lot of people, but it has given us a chance to wipe the slate clean," he said.

"Our research shows that people want local shops."

The Regenda Group will now submit detailed plans to Wirral Council's planning committee later in the year.

Analysis

By Claire Hamilton, BBC Radio Merseyside political reporter

It has been five long years for the people of New Ferry, and for a lot of that time they have felt ignored.

In the aftermath of the blast, there was a row between the council and the government over who should pay for regeneration and recovery.

The town is now getting £3m from the government's Future High Streets fund which together with today's announcement are being welcomed as tangible progress.

But the project still has a long way to go.

The council says, subject to compulsory purchase orders, the project should be completed in December 2024, more than seven years after the heart was ripped out of the town.