Hoylake Jobcentre is facing closure following a government announcement that it is intending to close 1 in 10 Jobcentres across the UK.
The Jobcentre located at The Quadrant will close with the service moving to the West Kirby Concourse. Local MP and Shadow Work and Pensions Minister, Margaret Greenwood, pledged to fight the closure and said:
“This closure will make it harder for people in Wirral West to access employment support.
“The extra cost of bus fares to travel to the Job Centre will add to the financial difficulties many jobseekers face.
“I am particularly concerned about what this will mean for people with disabilities.
“The government says it wants to half the disability employment gap so that disabled people will be able to secure decent jobs. Closing Job Centres is the wrong way to go about doing this.”
[UPDATE 31-01-17]: Details of the proposed closure and public consultation can be found here.
Another blow to Hoylake?
Is this set to be another blow to Hoylake? Is West Kirby slowly becoming the local focal point for banking, public services and more? Or if the Jobcentre closure happens is it an opportunity to start new businesses and create jobs in the former Hoylake town hall (pictured above)? Have your say in the comments!
they are allowed to claim travel allowance to job centres
What will happen to the Town Hall if the job center moves is it a listed building .It is so sad to see everything is moving to West Kirby. There was always a dividing line between Hoylake and West Kirby always them and us .
Hi Marjorie
If you go here
http://www.hoylakebeacon.org.uk/?p=2045
you will see that there are plans for repurposing our lovely Town Hall…..and potentially bringing a single screen cinema back to Hoylake
It is very sad but unfortunately for us, Hoylake has local councillors who seem hell bent on stopping positive things happening in Hoylake, backed up by their petition-wielding committees at Melrose Hall. They won’t be happy until Hoylake has completely gone to sleep.
No cafe on the prom, close all the bars and restaurants, no proper sports facilities. What a bunch we have running Hoylake. Good luck getting a cinema past them. If you succeed, which I hope you do, then perhaps you could be the ones to build a new cafe on that empty space at the end of Trinity Road.
I moved from west kirby to hoylake 27 years ago because it was dowdy and uninteresting and hoylake seemed to be up and coming…now the complete reverse has occured..shame
Jeff, that 27 years is part of the period of managed decline that Sarah mentions in her comment above.
But the existence of Hoylake Vision [the Neighbourhood Planning Forum]
http://www.hoylakevision.org.uk/
and the recently instigated Neighbourhood Development Plan now in place
http://www.hoylakevision.org.uk/hoylake-neighbourhood-plan-executive-summary/
suggest that all is not lost just yet
Agree with Sarah and Jeff, things just keep closing, the councillors don’t seem to want Hoylake to develop and be a lively place again, hopefully the new plans will change things.