Our Priorities for Southport

Six priorities for our town. Every one of them is something a determined local team can actually push for and win. We know some of this is a big task. But it needs doing, and we will do everything we can.

Lord Street and the town centre shops — Lord Street, Southport town centre · 2008

Restore our high street

Eastbank Street, Lord Street and our shopfronts.

Lord Street is one of the finest boulevards in the world, and Eastbank Street has always been our everyday high street. Today too many units sit empty, and honest traders are being undercut by a wave of cash-only barbers, vape shops and mini-marts that the government itself now admits are often fronts for money laundering. Our high streets should work for legitimate businesses and the people who actually shop in them.

Fill empty shops with proper retail. We do not need another vape shop or cash-only barber.
Back Trading Standards and the police to investigate and close suspected money-laundering fronts, using the new closure powers.
Use shopfront and conservation rules so signage is clear and in keeping with Lord Street and Eastbank Street.
Turn empty upper floors into homes, so the town centre has people living in it all year round.

Restore the pier and our beaches

Reopen the pier and clean up the beach.

Our pier is the second longest in Britain and it has been shut since December 2022. Funding for a full restoration is in place and we will hold the council to a reopening date. But a seaside town is more than its pier. Southport's beaches used to be why people came here. Now the dunes and footpaths are overgrown, the sand is neglected, and footfall along the seafront has dropped. The council is not maintaining it. We will push for funding to clear the overgrowth, clean the beach, and get the coastline back into proper shape.

Hold the council to a firm pier reopening date.
Push for dedicated beach and seafront funding, spent on maintenance and clean-up.
Clear overgrowth, restore pathways and dunes, and make the shoreline worth visiting again.
Keep the coast a priority, not an afterthought.

Southport seafront and Marine Lake — Marine Lake and Marine Way Bridge, Southport · 2019

Restore tourism

Get visitors back to Southport.

Southport was built as a place people travelled to. Without visitors, our shops, cafes, hotels and seafront cannot survive, and the town slowly dies. We have the beach, the gardens, the Flower Show, the Marine Lake, Adventure Coast and one of the great high streets in the country. The council has talked up tourism for years, but talk is cheap when the pier is shut, the streets are scruffy and visitors are priced out before they have parked. We need to make Southport somewhere people want to come back to.

A proper year-round events programme that brings families and trade into the town.
Get behind the seafront, Marine Lake and local attractions that keep visitors coming.
Promote Southport's heritage and gardens as the draw they should be.
Clean, safe, welcoming streets that give people a reason to return.

The Atkinson, a civic building in Southport — The Atkinson, Lord Street

Restore our share

Our money spent here, not elsewhere.

Southport brings in the visitors and the revenue, but year after year the same administration decides where the money goes, and Southport rarely seems to come first. Taxpayers here are already carrying tens of millions in borrowing while our own streets wait their turn. A town that pays its share deserves honesty about where every pound goes.

Full, plain transparency on what Southport raises and what is actually spent here.
Oppose loading Southport residents with debt for schemes elsewhere in the borough.
Push for a Southport-first regeneration budget, with real local input.

Restore safety

Tackle the antisocial behaviour, litter and potholes.

People are tired of gangs of teenagers causing trouble, litter, graffiti and potholes. The new protection order and the town-centre police team are a start, but they need backing and enforcement. Streets that look neglected usually are.

Full enforcement of the new Public Space Protection Order, and continued backing for the town-centre police team.
Faster pothole and pavement repairs, and hold the council's new highways contract to account.
Rapid clean-up of graffiti, litter and fly-tipping.
Firm but fair on homelessness and addiction, with proper routes into help rather than leaving people on the street.

Marine Way Bridge, a main road into Southport — Marine Way Bridge

Restore parking

Cheaper, fairer, and less predatory.

Visitors should not have to spend an arm and a leg just to park and walk around our town. The charges are high, the signs are confusing, and parking enforcement has become a byword for how this council treats people: quick to fine, slow to listen. After decades of Labour control at Sefton, Southport's visitors are treated like a revenue stream, not guests to a great seaside town.

Cut parking costs so families and day-trippers can actually afford to stop in Southport.
End the predatory fine culture. Enforcement should be fair and proportionate, not a cash grab dressed up as traffic management.
Hold the council to account for how parking income is spent, and make sure Southport sees the benefit.
Clear signage, sensible time limits and more short-stay options near the town centre, seafront and attractions.

What are your priorities?

Tell us what matters most to you, or get involved and help us deliver them on the doorstep.

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