Department for Culture Media and Sport

> Birkenhead has seen a decline in investment through the New Opportunities Fund since 1999 – from £5.7 million in that year to just £383,372 in 2003

> Wirral is a partner in the Merseyside Gateway Project which received £370,000 from the New Opportunities Fund to create a website on the history and growth of the Port of Liverpool and its environs – 710 images from Wirral archives and Birkenhead Reference Library, out of a total of 20,000, have been selected for the site. The Council contributed over £1000 to the project. However, this gives no indication of investment trends over time

> There has been a range of investment for the purpose of developing tourism in Birkenhead –

• During 2003-04 The Merseyside Partnership (TMP) received £320,000 from the NWDA’s Marketing Image Budget for tourism and promotion of Merseyside.
  
• £419,000 was also provided from the NWDA’s Tourism Budget for a variety of projects that will benefit Birkenhead – The Mersey Waterfront Regional Park, restrooms for the Birkenhead Historic Warships (£65,000), £90,000 towards the Landmark Monument feasibility study, and £400,000 for Hoylake/West Kirby Resort improvements.
  
• Birkenhead will also benefit in the longer-term from the Festival of Light Study, which aims to provide permanent lighting across the Waterfront area; also the Hotel Study aims to provide a forward plan for the development of hotels on the Waterfront and outer areas of Merseyside; in addition, there is the Woodside master plan, which is a blue print for future development at this site. Finally, the restoration of the Wirral Way from West Kirby to Thurstaston incorporating new cycle ways totalling £358,000.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

> Merseyside is 1 of 9 Market Renewal Pathfinder areas, which includes part of Birkenhead, and has been allocated £90 million

> Since 1997, Birkenhead has benefited from a 140% rise in the level of council funding for housing – not only that, but the Community Housing Task Force and the Government Office for the North West support the local authority and its tenants to choose the best strategy for long-term improvement

Department for Transport

> Road safety in Birkenhead has been mixed since 1997 – whilst deaths have increased by 20%, from 10 in 1997 to 12 in 2002, the number of serious injuries fell by 3%, from 178 in 1997 to 173 in 2002
> Investment in Birkenhead’s transport services also shows a mixed picture –

• 4.05 miles of new cycle lanes have been constructed since 1997
  
• Only 0.6 miles of priority bus lanes have been created since 1997
  
• A number of railway improvements are however planned for the next 10 years – including the refurbishment of Hamilton Square station, rebuilding Bidston station, electrification of the line between Bidston and Woddchurch. Further, Merseyrail rolling stock will be fully refurbished by the end of 2004.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

> Between June 2000 and March 2003, approximately 3,780 households in Birkenhead have received assistance from the Warm Front scheme

Department for Trade and Industry

> VAT registered business start-ups appear to have declined in Wirral since 1997 – from 660 in that year to 510 in 2002; in terms of non-VAT registered firms, there were 2,100 in Wirral in 2003, but an absence of data before this time makes comparison difficult
> Assistance has been provided to 194 businesses in Birkenhead through the Business Link Operator for Greater Merseyside since 2001; 11 companies have received grant offers from the Research and Development Grant Scheme with a total value of £696,160 since 1997; further, 13 companies received grants with a total value of £334,170 under the Enterprise Grant Scheme