A Merseyside council has been told it should look at converting one of its town halls into a hotel in order to cash in Liverpool tourism. Birkenhead Town Hall is currently closed following a decision by Wirral councillors earlier this year.
The town hall, which sits within the historic Hamilton Square in Woodside, was completed in 1887. The 200ft clock tower stands above many of the other buildings in the area and can easily be seen from Liverpool's Pier Head.
Services moved out of the town hall earlier this year to Wirral Council's other town hall in Wallasey. The local authority is currently exploring options for what to do with the building with one councillor even suggesting it could be turned into a casino.
At an economy and regeneration committee meeting on October 21, Andy Warwick, a member of the public with a background in property sales, asked the council to seriously consider whether to turn the building into a hotel. He said Liverpool was one of the most popular visitor destinations in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ but few ventured across the Mersey to Wirral.
He asked if there was "any plan to attract and increase hotel accommodation especially around Hamilton Square," adding: "I would imagine large hotel chains could come up with sympathetic and imaginative plans if offered favourable lease terms on the redundant building."
He said this would attract businesses to Hamilton Square and increase business revenue in an area with what he said was the best view of Liverpool. He believed Wirral should turn to Liverpool's Municipal Buildings for inspiration and "look closely at the dynamic things they've done over the water".
Municipal Buildings is a former Grade II* listed council office building on Dale Street that has since been turned a hotel. It was sold off by Liverpool Council in 2016.
Regeneration committee chair Cllr Mark Skillicorn said the council recognised the importance of Hamilton Square and Woodside as key gateways to Wirral given their close location to Liverpool and public transport links, adding the local authority was actively exploring opportunities to attract investment into Hamilton Square including hotel accommodation.
He pointed to master plans for the Birkenhead waterfront and central Birkenhead as part of the council's regeneration programme but said any future use of the town hall must be highly sensitive to its Grade II listing.
Councillors at the October 21 meeting also got an update on how planning decisions in relation to waste collection services in the borough. This comes as major changes are set to be made to the service with more recycling and new food waste collections.
Though the decision before councillors related to planning policy, Birkenhead councillor Pat Cleary criticised the performance of recycling services as really poor. Wirral's recycling rate is currently around 31% which is below the national average and this will need to be 65% by 2025.
As well as criticising a number of areas, Cllr Cleary also slammed the burning of waste being classed as renewable energy, adding: "Over half of our waste is actually incinerated. That generates energy I appreciate but it's a complete waste of resources."
This was criticised by Labour councillor Mike Sullivan, who said: "What this department is trying to do like all the departments in the council is do more with less so you're actually running just to stand still."
He said areas in west Wirral had higher recycling rates quoting a historic figure of 75% but the problem was areas like Birkenhead had much lower rates. He suggested the town was "dragging our scores down."
Cllr Sullivan said: "It's alright laughing Pat but this is a serious matter", adding: "Instead of criticising, go and work with the officers to try and solve the problem instead of constantly sitting there and banging the drum of negativity."
When it came to a vote to approve the plan, only Green councillors voted against the plan.
