Wallasey Pool was a natural tidal inlet of water that separated the towns of Wallasey and Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula , England . Originally flowing directly into the River Mersey , it was converted into the sophisticated Birkenhead Dock system from the 1820s onwards by land reclamation , with the main portion of the pool becoming known as the Great Float . In 1933, with the exception of a small lake, the head of Wallasey Pool at Poulton was converted into Bidston Dock . By 2003, this dock had been filled in.
25-460: A new development was approved for Birkenhead docks in 2010. The Wirral Waters development will transform the docklands area into business, leisure and retail facilities. Four road bridges cross the former Wallasey Pool, over what is now Birkenhead Docks: Egerton Bridge is situated between Egerton Dock and Morpeth Dock and is a bascule bridge . It was built between 1928 and 1931, replacing an earlier hydraulic swing bridge . The bridge and
50-505: A ceremony at Hooton on 1 February 1972. A junction was partially built to allow extension of the motorway further south west, around 1 mile (1.6 km) west of junction 5. The unbuilt motorway would have provided a bypass of the A41 and would likely have terminated on the M56, though exactly where is unknown. The unfinished junction for this extension has now been demolished. The final section of
75-591: A further extension for the Wirral Tramway to Seacombe ferry terminal. The scheme was revealed to the public in September 2006, after 18 months of design, whilst at a consultative stage. Local councillors welcomed the proposals. Peel intended to submit proposals to the Wirral Council by Christmas 2008, however, this process took longer and it was not until the second half of 2010 that approval
100-461: A new campus for building and construction. The new facility opened in September 2015. Plans were submitted for a 60,000 square feet (5,600 m ) office building at Tower Wharf, in May 2014. The building was completed in 2015 and became the new headquarters of a call centre. In June 2015, Peel announced it was pulling out of its joint venture with proposed Chinese partner Sam Wa for the development of
125-693: Is also referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway . It runs between the Kingsway Tunnel , at Wallasey in the north, and the A55 at Chester . The main reason for the motorway was to provide a through route to the new Mersey Road Tunnel, Kingsway , which was built at the same time. Part of this motorway was originally the M531. Starting at the northern end, the motorway starts in Wallasey at
150-591: The M56 motorway at junction 11. Finally, it heads south and becomes the A55 North Wales Expressway at junction 12. This motorway was originally two separate projects, the M53 and M531. The M53 was originally proposed to run from the Kingsway Tunnel to Backford . The M531 would have run from a point just west of the current junction 5 and provided a connection with the M56 for eastbound travel. When
175-687: The Wirral Peninsula , England . It is the sister programme of the Liverpool Waters project. Since 2012 the two projects have enjoyed enterprise zone status, together forming the Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone. The original plans intended for the creation of 5,000,000 square feet (465,000 m ) of modern office space at the East Float and Vittoria Dock . A central part of the early designs were
200-463: The Wirral railway line ), before narrowing to dual two-lane and turning sharply to the east. At junction 5, traffic for Wales can take the A41 , A550 and A494 to join the A55 near Ewloe . The road passes north and then east of Hooton , then to the east of Overpool and Wolverham and with Ellesmere Port to the west. South of junction 10 the route enters a more rural setting, passing under
225-616: The 1930s most were replaced by bascule bridges. Joining the southern end of the Poulton district of Wallasey with the north end of Birkenhead, Duke Street bridge is also a bascule (see-saw) bridge but with painted green girders. Originally, it was also a swing bridge. Furthest upstream is the Penny Bridge, which crosses the head of the pool to connect Poulton with Bidston in Birkenhead. Replacing an earlier wooden bridge of 1843,
250-525: The M53 provided a link to Chester from the M56 and was opened in 1982. No plans are known to exist to complete the originally planned M53. On 29 September 2023, a coach overturned and crashed in the M53 motorway coach crash . Jessica Baker, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, and the driver, Stephen Shrimpton, both died in the crash. Manchester M56 Data from driver location signs is used to provide distance and carriageway identifier information. The M53
275-542: The M53 started in 1969. It was to be built in stages as part of a strategic route to North Wales for traffic from Merseyside . The route to North Wales was unresolved as there was even an option to run due west from south of junction 4 and cross the River Dee on a barrage. This first section from the tunnel to junction 5, where it connected straight into the Vauxhall Motors road, was opened by Lord Leverhulme in
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#1732776477413300-563: The M53 was first planned in the early 1960s, it was designed as a route to connect the two Mersey road tunnels with the A55 trunk road on the Welsh border, giving Liverpool and the rest of Merseyside a direct link with Chester and the towns on the North Wales coast. In the event, the A55 link was never built and instead the M531 (by-passing the eastern side of Chester) was incorporated into
325-526: The M53. The first section of the M531 was built to improve access to the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port facility. It was opened in 1968 as a non-designated road. Subsequently this road was extended further south to meet the A5117 and was designated as the M531. In March 1981, the M531 was lengthened to meet the M56 and at this stage the whole route was redesignated as the M53. Construction on
350-493: The cessation of waste disposal operations in 1995, Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and the charitable trust Groundwork Wirral have undertaken environmental restoration works to landscape the site. The site is now known as the Newlands Project Nature Reserve, is 68 hectares (170 acres) in size, with a fishing lake and a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of cycling trail. The site is also accessible, to
375-530: The cornerstone International Trade Centre. It was announced in November 2016 that Wirral Waters had been made one of six new 'Housing Zones' and could apply for a share of £18 million of government funding designed to speed up the construction of large scale housing developments. Plans for a £25 million maritime training and business hub were announced in 2018. The hub will be located in the old Victorian Central Hydraulic Tower situated by Alfred Dock within
400-515: The creation of a series of towers that were to provide space for a waterfront hotel, bars, restaurants, other leisure facilities and 15,000 apartments. Three of the towers were intended to achieve fifty storeys. One of the landmark developments in the scheme was to be the creation of a £175m 'International Trade Centre. This facility was to allow companies from countries in Asia to exhibit and sell their goods and services into Europe. Further development
425-508: The development. Planning permission was raised by Peel in June 2022, with work hoping to be started in mid-2023. At the 2018 MPIM Global Property Expo in Cannes , three schemes to develop over 1,000 homes were announced. The schemes consist of a 'dementia care village', 347 modular homes and 500 apartments. The development, known as 'Miller's Quay', will consist of 500 apartments started work in
450-600: The exit slip roads from the Kingsway Tunnel from Liverpool. It loops round the north west of Birkenhead and then runs south as a dual three-lane route between Upton , Woodchurch in the west and Prenton . From junctions 1 to 3 it runs parallel to the Borderlands railway line . It crosses this line south of junction 3. From this junction it proceeds south to the west of Bebington through junction 4 and then further south for 4 miles (6.4 km) (where it crosses
475-673: The machine house were completely restored in 1993 and opened to the public in 1995. A red girdered bascule bridge at Tower Road connects the Seacombe district of Wallasey with Birkenhead. Known as the Four Bridges, as originally four movable bridges existed along Tower Road: two between the Great Float and Alfred Dock, one between the Great Float and Wallasey Dock and one between the Great Float and Egerton Dock. When originally built, all four were hydraulic swing bridge types. In
500-428: The name derives from the 1896 one penny toll to cross in one direction. The bridge was replaced again in 1926 and provided access to Bidston Dock . The dock itself has been filled in and the bridge was replaced by a fixed roadway in 1996. Bidston Moss was originally low-lying wetland marsh at the head of Wallasey Pool. In 1936 most of the land was given over to residential, commercial and industrial landfill . Since
525-540: The public, from Cross Lane and the Wallacre in Wallasey . The nearest car park is at Bidston station . ^ www.wirralwaters.co.uk The New Docklands development Scheme 53°24′12″N 3°02′16″W / 53.40320°N 3.03780°W / 53.40320; -3.03780 Wirral Waters Wirral Waters is a large scale £4.5bn development currently being built by the Peel Group for Birkenhead , on
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#1732776477413550-774: The scheme may lead to the creation of over 27,000 permanent jobs. A plan was announced in February 2013, intending to redevelop part of the abandoned Birkenhead Dock Branch route, to run a streetcar system, to be known as Wirral Street Car . The plan involves connecting Wirral Waters to the Merseyrail network at Birkenhead North and Hamilton Square stations, utilising the stretch of dock branch trackbed along Beaufort Road and Corporation Road, with inner and outer loops around Vittoria Dock and East Float , respectively. Options to connect this new system to Conway Park and Birkenhead Park stations are also available, along with
575-616: The summer of 2022. A-grade office space was completed in 2021 with the opening of the Hythe Building. The first tenant, a modular housing provider, moved into the facility in 2022. M53 motorway The M53 is an 18.9-mile-long (30.4 km) motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral , Merseyside and the borough of Cheshire West and Chester , Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It
600-572: Was given by Wirral Council's Planning Committee and, later on, the government. On 6 January 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron together with Lord Heseltine met with members of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council who were given a presentation of the scheme, followed by a tour of the site. Plans were submitted that year for the International Trade Centre, with the project to take place with Chinese investors. In April 2014, Wirral Metropolitan College announced plans for
625-463: Was proposed at the site of the former Bidston Dock , close to the M53 motorway and the Kingsway road tunnel to Liverpool . This was to encompass an additional 571,000 square feet (53,000 m ) of retail and leisure facilities. The architectural practice Broadway Malyan were employed by Peel to be responsible for the overall design of the development. It was estimated by the developers that
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