The cost of policing across Merseyside is expected to rise to plug a major funding gap. With an £8m blackhole in Merseyside Police's finances, it has been proposed that the amount residents pay to fund the service will increase from April. Emily Spurrell, Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner said the move would help prevent further cuts to policing across the region. Subject to approval at a special budget meeting next week, the increase equates to 17p a week for the majority of households.

Liverpool Council say new figures that reveal the city has the second worst recycling rate in England are 'disappointing'. Government data published recently showed that Liverpool has a household waste recycling rate of 17.9%, meaning that less than a fifth of recyclable household waste is recycled in the city. Only the London Borough of Tower Hamlets has a worse rate at 17.7%.

The former headquarters of a social housing provider is to be transformed into a creative arts hub in Birkenhead. Make CIC, a Liverpool-based social enterprise set up in 2012, has bought the former offices of Riverside Housing on the corner of Hinson Street and Argyle Street as part of its plans to create a café, rooftop and community gardens, studio spaces and workshops with a new creative hub called Make Hamilton 2.0 in the town centre. It expects to move in in summer 2024 and will move out of its current temporary home on Cleveland Street.