The Merseyside Development Corporation was a central government-appointed Development Corporation set up in 1981 by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's government to regenerate the Mersey docks of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county bou ...

and

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

History

The corporation was established as part of an initiative by the future

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket Media Group in 1957. Heseltine se ...

, in 1981 during the First Thatcher ministry. Board members were directly appointed by the minister and overrode local authority planning controls to spend government money on infrastructure. This was a controversial measure in Labour strongholds such as East London, Merseyside and North East England. Actitivies undertaken by the Corporation include the Liverpool International Garden Festival in 1984, and the redevelopment of the Albert Dock complex, which included the opening of Tate Liverpool and the Merseyside Maritime Museum. During its lifetime of non-housing development and 486 housing units were built. Around 22,155 new jobs were created and some £698m of private finance was leveraged in. Circa of derelict land was reclaimed and of new road and footpaths put in place. The chairman was Donald Forster, who had previously been Chairman of Warrington and Runcorn Development Corporation, and the first Chief Executive was Basil Bean, who had previously been general manager of the Northampton Development Corporation. The corporation was wound up in 1998.

References

{{Authority control Liverpool Organizations established in 1981 Organizations disestablished in 1998 Organisations based in Merseyside Economy of Merseyside Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom Development Corporations of the United Kingdom