New hope for Birkenhead

A six-month breathing space has been agreed to secure the future of ship repair work at the former Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead. Site owner Reddington Finance has awarded a licence for six months for Liverpool-based Mersey Heritage Shiprepair to carry on trading. This will give the yard?s management breathing space to resolve the future of the yard.

Reddington gave tenants Northwestern Shiprepairers, who bought out fellow tenant A&P Birkenhead in May, notice to quit the yard at the end of August. Joint Reddington bosses Gerry White and David Day pledged the yard will remain available for ship repair and conversion. But the issue was clouded by a four-metre wide strip of land, dubbed a “ransom strip,” fronting the riverside and controlling access to the docks, which is still owned by the sitting tenants. The licence covers the period from September 3 to March 3 next year.