George Osborne to announce £39 million of new science and transport funding for Liverpool

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon George Osborne MP, will visit Liverpool today to announce a package of measures to support the city’s science and transport infrastructure.

He will reveal that the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University have been successful in their bid to create one of four University Enterprise Zones, with £5 million match funding from government.

The £15 million facility will house and support new high tech businesses around ‘sensor technologies’. Sensors are the crucial link between technological devices and the world around them, capturing data on a whole host of areas such as temperature, humidity and pressure.

They can be used in everything from home security systems to medical technology and high value manufacturing.

‘Sensor City’ will help inventions go from the lab to the factory floor even faster, and act as a shop window for foreign investment into the city’s high tech start-ups.

Later the Chancellor will also unveil a £34.4 million transport package as part of the Atlantic Gateway project, which is building greater connections between Liverpool and Manchester and aims to create 250,000 jobs by 2030.

He will announce;

• A £10.4 million upgrade to the Halton Curve rail line to improve connectivity between Liverpool, Cheshire, Warrington and North Wales.
• £5.6 million to improve access and road safety around Knowsley Industrial Park.
• £4 million of improvements to A5300 Knowsley Expressway to maximise the benefits of the New Mersey crossing and access to Liverpool Airport
• A £14.4 million upgrade of the car parking and public transport connections on the Newton-le-Willows rail interchange link to Parkside