A WIRRAL businessman has accused the borough council of being “another level of stupid.”

Dan Davies, the CEO of Rockpoint Leisure, is seen by many in New Brighton as central to efforts to regenerate the coastal town. New Brighton was once the third largest seaside resort in the UK before it saw years of decline after the Second World War.

Five years ago, Mr Davies sold his business and began a project to revive Victoria Road. In that time, he said he’s invested than £7.5m into New Brighton establishing new businesses and improving the street scene.

Mr Davies however feels Wirral Council has not been supportive of the project only giving him £3,000 and four new bins. The businessman said he has not received any funding from the Liverpool City Region either.

He believes a baseline level of funding would help support his plans to restore the town.

Mr Davies said: “You know when something is a no brainer. It’s just another level of stupid and the mad thing is, it’s the most basic things. For example we have buses where no buses stop at and there’s no signage for New Brighton even on the motorway.”

During an appearance in the House of Lords earlier this month, Mr Davies criticised the lack of funding for seaside towns and said he was disappointed not to have seen little progress with the council.

Wirral Council is currently developing its New Brighton masterplan that will shape how the town will look in the future with a consultation held in 2022. However Mr Davies argued the local authority is focusing on just housing when it comes to reviving areas.

Mr Davies told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “You want to have investment. You want companies that are starting, people that are going to produce things, employ people, provide a service. You want them to be in your area as opposed to the area next door.

“I have lived here all my life and started a business when I was 18 which was a real success story. I brought hundreds of people to the Wirral who would never have visited the Wirral.”

Mr Davies, who has previously spoken about dealing with cancer, said he’s now in remission.

He said: “It hasn’t been easy with the stress you get put under from things like this and not get anything back in. My consultants tell me I’m putting myself under too much stress, I’m going to make myself ill again. There’s a good chance the cancer would come back.

“I can mitigate that but it is a lot of pressure. It’s hard.”

If regeneration of New Brighton isn’t successful, Mr Davies said it would be devastating “on a personal level.”

He added: “I knew I was taking a risk going into this. I just didn’t expect the lack of support from the Metro Region and the council and that has really shocked me. I can’t think of one other council that wouldn’t have got behind this or one other Metro region.

“I don’t want to see it closed up again or it go backwards. It’s hard. I could just head off somewhere if I wanted to but I don’t want to walk away from here when there’s still a lot to be done. It’s just a disappointment and a shame.”

“Do I have hope the council will do the right thing? All I can say is that I hope they do. If not, it would be down to investors from outside the area and it would be a shame if it takes people from other areas to come in and regenerate it because the council don‘t take it seriously.

“It would also be nice if some of my multi-million pound neighbours up the road to actually do something because I think too many people forget where they’ve come from.”

“However if someone said they wanted to regenerate their area and had a council like this, I couldn’t honestly put my hand on my heart and say do it because they’d be losing everything they’ve ever worked for.”

While much of his criticism lay with Wirral Council, Mr Davies said he also wanted to make a point ahead of the upcoming council elections as he believes New Brighton “has never been high on the priority list.”

He said: “The actual three councillors I get on with alright but I want their focus to be doing something in the ward they represent because if I was a councillor, I would be shouting from the rooftops to have the place I represent actually get a fair share of the money available. It seems to go everywhere else apart from here. I’ve kept my mouth shut before every other election and it hasn’t got us any further.”

He added: “I want to see them absolutely taking a forward role and knocking down barriers that in the way of developments like this, with regeneration like this, and actively helping the residents of New Brighton some of the funds instead not getting a look in.”

Mr Davies believes part of the reason for this is because New Brighton is considered a safe seat for Labour, Wirral’s largest party and that is why funding goes elsewhere. He makes clear his issues aren’t party political, adding: “that might not be them (the councillors) individually but the system they are in.”

A statement from New Brighton councillors Tony Jones, Paul Martin, and Sue Powell-Wilde said they had been vocal supporters of the regeneration efforts.

They added: “If Mr Davies or any group puts together a request for funding and seeks the support of local councillors then it goes without saying that we’d consider it. Dan and the team at Rockpoint have been made aware of the processes that need to be followed should he wish to do this.

“There seems to be a misconception though that we as ward councillors have any control over the distribution of monies that come into Wirral or Liverpool City Region. We simply don’t.

“We have had one single specific request from Mr Davies for support. This was last year and for a mural for a wall at Victoria Road. Support was given immediately and the grant was awarded.”

Mr Davies rubbished those claims, adding: "The main grants are allocated before anybody gets a look in. It is already earmarked for Woodside and Birkenhead. It automatically goes before we have even had a chance.”

In a statement, Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said he wasn’t “usually in the business” of commenting on individual funding applications but said the combined authority had not received a compliant bid for funding.

Regarding questions around bus stops, Mr Rotheram said private operators currently control where buses stop and plans to bring buses back under public control are due to go out to public consultation in the next few weeks.