Southport's Scenic Route in Shambles: Cambridge Arcade Left to Deteriorate, Council Snubs Repair Needs

As people head from Southport Railway Station to Lord St and seaside attractions, the preferred route is down the Cambridge Arcade to Princess Diana gardens. The area has been in a poor state of repair for years but hopes have been pinned on a promised refurbishment by Sefton Council. Sefton has claimed that it wants " to preserve this beautiful arcade for generations to come”.

However, hopes have been dashed as it has become apparent that money has been found only to repair the glass roofing at the end near the Town Hall with no real plan or funding for the drastically deteriorating end near the old BHS store.The Town Hall end repair will proceed shortly as part of a plan to deal with damage to the roof of the Town Hall.

This bombshell has depressed shopowners, Southport councillors and the public alike.The BHS end of the arcade is in far worse condition with parts fenced off.  

“This is a very signficant blow to Southport’s tourism and pride,” says Lib Dem group leader Cllr. John Pugh.  “Sefton has not got its priorities in order. Pieces of the arcade roof at the Chapel St end are literally falling off. Unbelievably a whole plank fell from the roof into the arcade during the downpour last Saturday. It could have killed someone. It was wholly by chance that following a meeting between traders and Council officers the barriers blocking off access to BHS side were moved more to the centre of the arcade on the 18th May. A council cannot be casual about planks of wood falling on the public. This really is a very urgent issue but there is a feeling that the Council does not see it quite in those terms. Misleadingly in its press release last December on the planned repairs it shows the BHS end of the arcade. https://mysefton.co.uk/2022/12/01/cambridge-arcade-improvement-works-set-to-begin-in-2023

“It is a complication”, says John Pugh, “ that the Council have to work with the owners of the old BHS  building. I am told that there has been a difficult relationship there. Sefton has a chequered history with developers. However, the council has both the funding and the regulatory powers to solve this problem provided there is the political will to do so. Stagnation is not an option when lumps are falling off a building in a public high way.

 It is hard to explain currently why we are spending £72m on an events centre without finding the resource and the means to rescue one of the gateways to it. Half-doing the job is not on."