Our new leadership team are busy recasting the way we deliver our public services as we continue to transform how we fulfil our community and stakeholder priorities.
Now, more than ever, we need to drive innovative change across our services, enabling the Council to take the next step in delivering its ambitious agenda and adapting collectively to a changing world. We are ideally placed to play a big part in our regional debate too at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse with easy access to Liverpool, Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester and excellent Motorway and transport links.
We are rekindling our passion and commitment to drive through our extensive and exciting growth agenda, deliver excellent public services for our residents, and creating a resilient Council by developing strong partnerships, modernising our operations, improving the use of resources and supporting our economic recovery to offer the best quality of life to our thriving communities.
Follow us:
Situated on the main A580 East Lancashire Road and at the centre of the region's motorway network, St Helens is one of the best-connected towns in the country. And once you get into the town centre, parking couldn't be simpler with spaces for over 2,300 cars on our council-run car parks.
St Helens has an efficient bus network with regular services from across the region passing through the main bus station on Bickerstaffe Street, alongside the Hardshaw Shopping Centre and a few hundred yards away from St Helens Central railway station. From here, there are direct rail links with nearby Eccleston, Thatto Heath and Lea Green in addition to direct trains to and from Liverpool, Wigan and Manchester.
In our multi-award-winning cultural quarter we have the perfect location for our Theatre Royal entertainment venue, with theatre, dance, music and film events on the agenda.
If you want art, then the Godfrey Pilkington Art Gallery and the World of Glass museum are the places for you, giving you a flavour of the town's industrial heritage and history. So does the North West Museum of Road Transport, with the largest collection of old buses in the country - especially if you have kids.
At the heart of the town's shopping offering is Church Square, St Helens' largest indoor shopping centre, with popular high street stores among the many shops. Outside of town is Ravenhead Retail Park on the linkway, where you will find some of the larger retailers, conveniently situated in one place. St Helens Retail Park offers the same but it also houses a number of independent and discount stores.
When it comes to eating out, St Helens town centre has many restaurants appealing to all tastes and budgets, from café bars and coffee shops to international and traditional British cuisine. Or if you are simply looking for a place to enjoy a few drinks, we have the traditional pubs (with many serving real ale), modern bars and clubs in and around the town centre, with the biggest concentration of eating and drinking establishments on Bridge Street, Westfield Street and Duke Street.
Our leisure facilities are second to none with three state-of-the-art, council-run leisure centres. In addition to the former council-run Sherdley Park Golf Club, there are also a number of other private clubs in the area.
The town centre also boasts a multiplex cinema and 10-pin bowling alley.
St Helens' excellent communication links offer a gateway for you to explore the local area. There's loads to do nearby, with Knowsley Safari Park right on our doorstep, and if you want countryside, then we have Sankey Valley Country Park, Billinge Hill and Carr Mill Dam on the edge of the town.
On the edge of the town we have the product of 'The Big Art Project', an ambitious public art commissioning initiative from Channel 4, supported by Arts Council England, the national development agency for the arts, and The Art Fund, the UK's leading independent art charity.
Dream has generated worldwide media coverage for St Helens and was awarded the prestigious Marsh Sculpture Prize for the best public sculpture of the year, plus eight other awards. It is attracting tens of thousands of additional visitors to the site and surrounding region every year.
When it comes to sport, there can only be one in the town: rugby league! In St Helens we are fanatical about the game - with some justification, because the 'Saints' are the most successful Super League team in history. And with the club being based in a fabulous modern stadium, who can blame us?
For fans of the other code, the town also hosts Liverpool St Helens Rugby Union Football Club at their ground in Moss Lane, which is just off the A580 East Lancashire Road at the Windle Island junction.
