WIRRAL Council is planning to spend £1.5m upgrading the historic Birkenhead Park to support its bid to get it recognised on the world stage.

Nearly £1m will be spent upgrading the park while the rest of the money will go towards supporting other costs related to a UNESCO World Heritage bid.

Birkenhead Park, sometimes known as the People’s Garden, was first opened on April 5 1847 as a park to be enjoyed by everyone in the community. It is acknowledged as the world’s first publicly-funded park and designed by Joseph Paxton, it went on to influence other famous parks such as Sefton Park in Liverpool and Central Park in New York.

Just after its 176th birthday on April 10 2023, the UK government announced a shortlist of seven sites it would be putting forward for UNESCO World Heritage status including Birkenhead and now Wirral Council’s bid for the site is being developed with the government. It’s hoped a World Heritage status would put the name of Birkenhead on the “world stage” and highlight the history of the area.

Currently, the council supported by the government is working towards submitting a formal nomination to UNESCO to consider the bid. As part of this, councillors are being asked to recommend at a tourism, communities, culture and leisure committee to spend £1.555m over four years supporting the bid. If approved, it will then go to the council’s senior policy and resources committee for consideration.

According to a council report, “there needs to be a real drive and focus on completing the required preparatory work to support nomination, including developing the nomination submission itself, and carrying out priority improvements and restoration to the site’s physical historic assets and its presentation.” It has been nearly 20 years since the park last received significant investment.

This is because “the condition and presentation of some of the park’s key natural and cultural heritage attributes and landmarks are not presently at the level of World Heritage Site expectations and will need to be addressed as a matter of some urgency for a successful nomination.” This includes new park railings and gates as well as improving the Grand Entrance, Swiss Bridge, and Roman Boathouse, boundaries, and lake platforms.

£580,000 will be spent on increasing staff capacity, getting external advice in, engaging with the community, and creating the bid. £975,000 will be spent on physical improvements to the park’s look and buildings.

UNESCO World Heritage Status could see the number of visitors to the park double with nearly 2m people a year currently visiting and UK World Heritage Sites generate on average nearly £6m a year. £566m has also been invested through the National Lottery Heritage Fund into 23 UK World Heritage sites over 14 years so there is room for more funding if the bid is successful.

However any hopes of a bid being successful are likely several years away but work could see it get the status as early as the summer of 2027. Feedback from the government has reportedly been “extremely positive” so far.

Once an evaluation of the park has been completed, there is an expectation the bid will be fully submitted by February 2026.