![\"Frank](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_Frank-Traynor-71-lives-in-Page-Moss-area.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe government has announced a raft of funding for community initiatives in 250 locations across the UK<\/p>\n
06:00, 10 Jan 2026Updated 07:55, 10 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
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Frank Traynor, 71, lives in Page Moss area(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lived here my whole life, but I feel like a lot of the people you see walking around now, are just people on their way to the bus stop to go somewhere else.\u201d These are the words of Jack, and they reference a problem expressed by many of the people we spoke to in Page Moss this week.<\/p>\n
Page Moss <\/a>continues to face significant challenges when it comes to deprivation, with particular issues around child poverty, and higher levels of income inequality and unemployment rates. According to several residents, there is a sense that Page Moss has been forgotten about.<\/p>\n However, on Monday (January 5), Liverpool West Derby<\/a> MP Ian Byrne, announced the approval of \u00a320m in funding for Page Moss, all part of the \u2018Pride in Place\u2019 programme<\/a>. This scheme was announced by the UK Government in 2025, with nearly 250 areas promised \u00a320m over 10 years to invest in their local communities.<\/p>\n To find out what people think about the \u00a320m investment, and how the money should be spent, we visited Page Moss and asked local residents what they would like to see created in the area.<\/p>\n We meet Frank Traynor, 71, just in front of the old taxi training centre and bus terminus on Stockbridge Lane, he said: \u201cIn the last 20 years, Page Moss has lost its character. Page Moss was quite a busy little hub, but unfortunately, there\u2019s nothing here any more that makes you stay, like a good pub, for instance, or a good restaurant.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s lost its personality. Page Moss has become a place that people just drive through on their way in or out of Liverpool. So if there\u2019s this money and investment coming in, I\u2019d like to see it spent on improving that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we could really use is a leisure centre, a sport facility like a swimming pool, where people can get together and do activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Liverpool Road in Page Moss(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n These sentiments were shared by Eddie Robb, 63, who grew up in Page Moss, but has spent time abroad, including a spell living in Florida, before moving back to care for his elderly parents. As we stand on a freezing cold and grey winter morning on Dinas Lane, the \u2018sunshine state\u2019 seems a million miles away, but Eddie is still happy to be home.<\/p>\n However, he has seen significant change, and believes Page Moss has been neglected over the last two decades, adding: \u201cWhatever has happened or hasn\u2019t happened here, there is a great community in Page Moss. Lots of families grew up here, went to school at St Aloysius, I\u2019m calling in on my neighbour right now to check up on them, and lots of people who do that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut over the years, the community has lost places to go and meet, pubs have closed down, there\u2019s not many cafes, no social clubs and things like that, so if there\u2019s a pot of money, I hope they\u2019ll think about that and create more places for people to get together.\u201d<\/p>\n According to a 2025 report by the New Local Government Network, community spaces represent a \u2018core and enduring part of the UK\u2019s social infrastructure\u2019, adding \u201cThey are hubs of social connection, stewards of health and wellbeing, vital partners in their local ecosystems and important physical assets that communities can depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n With the recent closure of The Old Bank pub, joining several other local pubs and hubs closing down over the years, there is a sense that Page Moss is losing the spaces which bind its social fabric.<\/p>\n There are also other issues which people would like to see addressed. Jack Greenland, 21, grew up in Page Moss, but said there\u2019s not a lot for young people to do in the area, he added: \u201cWhen I\u2019m going out to see my mates, it\u2019s never gonna be like, \u2018come down to Page Moss\u2019 because where would we go? It\u2019s always either get to Prescot<\/a> or get to town.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve lived here my whole life, but I feel like a lot of the people you see walking around now, are just people on their way to the bus stop to go somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n In terms of the money and the potential investment in community projects, Jack said: \u201cThere\u2019s not much like of a community thing going on, but that\u2019s because we don\u2019t have anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Ian, 54, works in Page Moss every week(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n Jack is currently looking for work and hopes some of the \u00a320m will be used to help the local economy, or at least provide support for people looking to find employment and training, he said: \u201cI think if you speak to a lot of people from around here, you\u2019re gonna find either a lot of health problems, including mental health problems, like myself, there\u2019s a lot of stuff holding people back here.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of the first consultation meeting at The Gate Community Centre on Princess Drive (January 9), Ian Byrne told the Liverpool ECHO<\/a>: \u201cThis investment is hugely important for areas like Page Moss, which has bore the brunt of 14 years of austerity and managed decline, from a Tory government.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you\u2019ve got to hope is that a Labour government reflects on that and sees that we do need to invest in areas like Page Moss, which has got some of the highest statistics in the country for poverty.<\/p>\n \u201cIt desperately needs a helping hand, as many areas do in West Derby and throughout Liverpool. I think what\u2019s really interesting about this project is that it\u2019s not top down, so it\u2019s not telling people what they need.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s actually going out to the community and asking them what they feel they need within their communities and then the MPs, council, government, working together to hopefully implement the vision of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Byrne added: \u201cPage Moss mirrors exactly what\u2019s happened throughout Liverpool, Knowsley<\/a>, the Liverpool City region, with the destruction of what used to underpin society, with all the places that we meet, as a community, slowly but surely being chipped away and eroded, from the pubs to other local gathering places, and that needs to be desperately reversed.\u201d<\/p>\n As we get ready to head back, we come across a meat van, parked opposite the North Huyton<\/a> Dental Practice, which has been pitching up in Page Moss for the last six years, and is one of the few independent grocery shops in the area. It is very popular amongst local residents, and during our visit, streams of people were braving the wind and rain to come out to buy their produce.<\/p>\n![\"Liverpool](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_Liverpool-Road-in-Page-Moss.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ian,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_Ian-54-works-in-Page-Moss-every-week.jpg\")
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