Life Sciences will reignite St Helens Borough's innovative spirit

Article date: 24 October 2024

St Helens Borough Council's Cabinet approved plans that will see it sign up to the Liverpool City Region Life Science Investment Zone and create a St Helens Investment Zone (Tax Increment Finance) Fund.

Council Leader Councillor Anthony Burns welcomed the news: "Creating the Life Sciences Investment Zone is all about providing opportunities that will help realise the future aspirations of our communities and businesses. St Helens Borough has a strong history of leading innovative manufacturing through businesses like Pilkington's, Beecham's and many others, and this latest initiative will reignite our borough's innovative spirit."

"Programmes like this are vital to show our young people that they can learn skills and put them to good use, all here in our borough, where we can match their aspirations and provide opportunities in their hometown to live and grow their careers. There will also be valuable reskilling opportunities for our residents."

The site, known as the St Helens Manufacturing and Innovation Campus, includes SINA Medical, Glass Futures, Inovus Medical HQ, Project Halo that will see offer up to 100,000 sq ft of hi-tech development, and the former Watson Street Works which is set to be transformed into an exciting mixed-use development.

Councillor Richard McCauley, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth and Regeneration, added: "This opportunity to work with our partners across the Liverpool City Region is one that will bring colossal benefit to our borough for current and future generations, building on the investments we've already seen in St Helens with the likes of Glass Futures and SINA Medical and supporting life science businesses that already operate here like Inovus Medical and Bachem (UK) Ltd. This zone will extend to the site of the former Watson Street Works and link across several other regeneration sites in St Helens town centre."

The fund will support the St Helens Investment Zone Tax Site, which offers the occupiers benefits. Councillor Martin Bond, Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance, said: "This status will aim to unlock significant private investment and create jobs for the region and maximise regenerative benefits across the borough. It will make the area highly attractive to life science businesses with offers such as Business Rate relief, Stamp Duty Land Tax exemption and National Insurance contribution relief among others. These government-backed incentives will make the sites far more attractive to potential developers and businesses in the life sciences sector, bringing those high-quality jobs for our residents to directly benefit from."