What will 2025 bring for Merseyrail? | Home Bargains founder behind plans for major city centre development

By Dan Haygarth | 02/01/25

Hello and happy new year.

I hope that you had an enjoyable and restful Christmas break. Your Liverpool Daily Post is back and the first edition of 2025 covers Merseyrail, ongoing issues with Section 21 evictions and major plans on a city centre road.

But if you would like to catch up some of our content from over the break, I’ve had a look at 11 ongoing developments that will change the face of Merseyside, I spoke to development director Chris Capes at Liverpool Waters about the sprawling project’s progress and looked at the rather unconventional idea that could have seen an airport built on the Pier Head in the 20th century.

Liam Thorp has evaluated what the new Labour government has done for Merseyside in a testing first six months in power, identified the parts of the city that have the worst rodent problems and looked at eight amazing Liverpool buildings that were never built.

Thanks for reading and all the best for 2025.

Liam Thorp: How did Merseyrail get on in 2024 and what will 2025 bring?

For those who have been lucky enough to avoid my transport-themed musings over the past year, you may not know that I am a regular user of the Merseyrail network and commuting by train each and every day of the working week.

As such - and as the powers that be at the transport operator well know - I take a keen, some would say obsessive, interest in how the network performs and its ability to serve the fine people of this bustling city region. As someone who wants the region's public transport to work well, I like to think of myself as a critical friend, but the team at Rail House may have a more withering description for this particular correspondent.

With a new year starting, I feel compelled to give an honest review of where Merseyrail currently finds itself as a rail service and to look ahead to what 2025 will bring. I think it is important and fair to point out that for a long time Merseyrail has been one of the most reliable rail operators in the country.

Sure we could do with trains more regularly than every 15 minutes but for a long time there were very few issues around cancellations and delays and the fact that no other operators run on the network always put us at something of an advantage.

But over the past few years something has changed. We have seen the trusty old Class 507 trains, which had started to fall apart, transferred out of service and replaced at a frustratingly glacial pace by a £500m fleet of Class 777 new trains. It is safe to say this has been a very bumpy ride.

The rollout of the trains, which was already significantly delayed, caused huge problems in 2023 - as passengers were hit by countless delays and cancellations, particularly after the chaotic opening of the Headbolt Lane station in Kirkby, with problems blamed on a new battery technology being used to reach the station. Things got so bad the Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram felt compelled to offer refunds for those who had been most badly affected.

But that was 2023, so was the past year any better? Well the short answer is yes, even if it hasn't always felt like it. Merseyrail's performance numbers have certainly got better, rising from a figure of roughly 90% of trains arriving on time or within five minutes in 2023 to 92% now - although transport bosses admit this is still some way of where they want to be.

There have still been plenty of problems with cancellations and delays, particularly for those travelling in the vicinity of the Headbolt Lane station. Colleagues at the ECHO who travel on that line tell me they head to their local stations each morning expecting some kind of disruption, which is never a good sign and something that must improve as the new fleet really settles in going into 2025.

The other issue right now is capacity. The previous fleet was made up of either three-car or six-car trains and the larger versions would always be deployed on busy commuter services at peak times. Thus far, the new Class 777s have largely been run as four-car trains and this can cause issues on those rush-hour services. This reporter can often find himself nestled into the sweaty armpit of a fellow passenger, which is not an ideal place to be before a morning coffee has even been consumed.

Hopefully in 2025 we will see a key change that will make such unedifying scenes a thing of the past. This August, testing of the new fleet's eight-car trains got underway on the Southport line, which has brought with it changes to services between Southport and Hunts Cross and Ormskirk and Liverpool Central. Once in operation, this will double the capacity on these busy morning routes on the network's hectic northern line. The ECHO understands this should start to happen fairly early in 2025 - we hope.

'Cruel' policy plunged families across Merseyside into misery and chaos

Over the course of the past year, many families across Merseyside have been plunged into a state of misery and chaos after being forced out of their homes, reports Elliot Jessett. For many, the instrument of their anguish has been a Section 21 'no fault' eviction which was used to threaten approximately 500 private renters in England every day during 2024, according to the housing charity Shelter.

In just one street in Seaforth, four families and four separate households were evicted after receiving a Section 21 from the same landlord and private housing firm. A Section 21 is commonly known as the 'no fault' eviction notice and allows landlords to evict a tenant with two months’ notice, without having to give a reason.

Despite each of the households containing vulnerable residents who had created stable homes and raised families, they were powerless to stop the evictions and had to find alternative accommodation. When the ECHO spoke to the families back in March, they had just 53 days to find a new home and it was clear the evictions had caused profound distress.

Bill Mitchell, 65, received his eviction notice after living in the same house for 25 years with his wife Pamela, 63 and their son. Through the back window, you can see a garden which he tends to every day and the rest of his time is spent caring for his wife and his son - both of whom have severe mental health issues and physical disabilities.

He said at the time: "My wife is in a right state. I've broken down in tears a couple of times. I was speaking to my sister about it and I just had a panic attack."

Bill added: "We are all scared stiff. We are petrified. We just don't know what the future holds for us."

Another resident of the street is Pat who moved there to help care for her daughter, who tragically lost a battle with cancer. Pat was raising and caring for her grandchild in her daughter's old house, but received the same 'no fault' eviction notice as the other three families. Speaking at the time, Pat broke down in tears when she recalled trying to explain the eviction to her grandchild, she said: "I couldn't say where we would go. I don't want to raise a child in a hotel."

Pat added: "The landlord knows my daughter passed away, they know I'm looking after my grandchild. I told them the house holds a lot of memories. It's where I have all my visions of the last days of my daughter.

"It's cruel what they're doing. They have no compassion."

The third family the ECHO spoke to was Barry and Michelle who were living on the road with their two children, Barry said at the time: "We felt safe and secure in the house, the kids feel safe and secure, but that's all been thrown out the window."

Michelle described the impact on her mental health and said the stress was too much to bear, she added: "I feel like this situation is going to kill one of us. I'm getting palpitations and I'm having panic attacks. I thought I was going to die last night." Michelle said her daughter just kept saying 'don't cry mummy, don't cry mummy' when the eviction notice came through.

The ECHO understands that at least two of these families have been rehoused since the eviction notices were served back in March.

To read the full article, click here.

Home Bargains founder behind plans for major city centre development

A company run by Home Bargains billionaire Tom Morris is planning to redevelop a major site in Liverpool city centre and transform it into a complex of nearly 90 new apartments, reports Liam Thorp.

Liverpool City Council is set to make a decision on the major proposals that would see the partial demolition, repair and remodelling of four listed buildings at 118-124 Duke Street and the erection of a vast new development that will reach up to eight storeys at its highest point. The plans, which would create a total of 88 apartments, would also include a new commercial unit and drinking establishment.

The proposals have been submitted by applicant Dave Little of Davos Property Developments care of TJ Morris Ltd, the owners of Liverpool-based high street giant Home Bargains. TJ Morris' billionaire owner Tom Morris, the richest Liverpudlian to have ever lived, is a director of Davos Property Developments along with Mr Little, and Mr Little is also group property director at TJ Morris.

The site in question is bounded by Duke Street, Henry Street and Kent Street and is currently made up of four, three-storey, Grade II listed Georgian town houses with basements. The houses are some of the earliest merchants' residences in the city, thought to have been built around 1780, which originally doubled as warehouses.

The buildings are currently boarded up and dilapidated. The site also includes a vacant plot at 126 Duke Street, which is currently used as a car park. The developers wish to redevelop the entire site, including the partial demolition, repair and remodelling of the four listed buildings.

The plan is to create a development of 37 one-bed, 46 two-bed and five three-bed apartments. The planned commercial space would aim to offer a flexible unit with a combined area of 350 square metres at the ground floor of the Duke Street/Kent Street corner of the block.

There are plans for a central landscaped courtyard and an external roof terrace at the 5th floor level of the development. The full planning application is accompanied by a listed building applications, which covers the proposed demolition works, external alteration works and additional internal works planned as part of the refurbishment of the buildings.

A planning statement submitted as part of the application states: "The site currently consists of four Grade 2 listed Georgian townhouses fronting onto Duke Street that are to be remodelled and refurbished appropriately to form part of the wider development of the site.

"The rear of these properties, facing Henry Street, are to be demolished to make way for a newbuild part of the development. The proposal as a whole will see the redevelopment of the existing townhouses, including partial demolition, to provide high-quality residential apartments, duplexes and townhouses, as well as ground-level retail and community facilities, with an outdoor amenity courtyard and roof terrace."

The proposals have not gone down well with everyone. The Historic Buildings and Places organisation, formerly known as the Ancient Monuments Society, has described the scheme as a 'highly damaging proposal to the architectural and historic significance of these heritage assets."

Two neighbours have also raised objections. A resident of the nearby Manhattan Place has suggested the planned building is out of character for the area and will increase existing issues around parking.

A resident of Henry Street claims the project will have a significant impact on the local community, raising concerns around the construction works - which could last three years and the height of the new building, claiming that the overall development 'threatens to disrupt their lives.'

The plans were first submitted back in 2023 and have been amended since then. They will come before Liverpool City Council's Planning Committee on Tuesday (January 7) when a decision on whether they can go ahead will be made. Planning officers are recommending that councillors approve the plans subject to a legal agreement.

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