On 19th March the Liverpool Echo reported that Barclaycard are pulling out of Kirkby to consolidate their operations in Wavertree Technology Park.  Whilst no job losses are reported, this does mean 565 staff will have their place of work relocated, and many of these people live in Kirkby.

As part of the Echo article a former employee was quoted as saying:

That decision is an absolute hammer blow to Kirkby. The jobs and opportunities that will be taken away from the town centre will not just impact the local employment, but will also impact that shops, pubs and more in the town centre, due to less people working in the proximity.

Myself and many other started our careers at Barclaycard and have gone on to have amazingly successfully careers. That opportunity has now been taken away from current and future generations and it’s an absolute travesty.

I genuinely would not have been anywhere near as successful without my start at Barclaycard and it’s a travesty that future generations in the area will not get that opportunity.

Seemingly in response to these comments, an unnamed spokesperson for Knowsley Council was quoted as saying:

While disappointing, the decision is not a “hammer blow” and it will not be “devastating” for Kirkby.

In fact, Kirkby will soon benefit from the major progress which is being made on regeneration plans to deliver new facilities, jobs and opportunities for local people. These new retail facilities will be opening this summer and are expected to create a significant boost for the local economy, including up to 500 jobs.

So, whilst we are disappointed that Barclaycard will not be part of Kirkby’s exciting future, we remain optimistic that the town centre will be an attractive proposition for businesses and shoppers. We will continue to do all we can to ensure that local people have access to jobs and career opportunities.

Knowsley Council’s statement on this matter is, frankly, ridiculous.  To pretend that the relocation of 565 non-retail jobs from Kirkby Town Centre to elsewhere on Merseyside will not have a profound effect on Kirkby is to ignore the reality of the situation.  Kirkby Town Centre is struggling after years of failed and/or heavily delayed plans, with the normal footfall being further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The very last thing that Kirkby Town Centre needs right now is for the major employer in the town centre to pull out.  It is all very well opening new retail and new jobs to go with it, but that retail needs shoppers, and the loss of Barclaycard will diminish that demand.  This will have a significant impact on the heart of our town for years to come, and to fail to acknowledge this fact is spectacularly tone deaf.

Travel

The obvious immediate impact is on Kirkby residents who work for Barclaycard who now need to make the journey to the new site:

• By car, this is a 14 mile journey, taking at least 21 minutes with good traffic
• By bicycle, this is a 7.5 mile journey, taking at least 42 minutes, mostly on the road rather than designated cycle paths
• By bus, this is a 2 bus journey taking at least 1 hr 14 minutes
• By train, this is a 2 train journey, taking around an hour
• By taxi, this would cost at least £12

For some, this will be a minor inconvenience, for others it could be a major shift to their daily life.

Young people

As highlighted by the ex-employee, Barclaycard has provided opportunities for many young people to get on the career ladder in Kirkby, including some of the people involved in Vision Kirkby, and some of their closest friends.

For many young people, Barclaycard has provided them with their first major job with a professional employer, on the doorstep of people living in a town with few opportunities and high levels of deprivation.  Working at Barclaycard has launched the career of many people, many who have gone on to all manner of other jobs.  Entire families have worked at Barclaycard, and it is a source of major social circles within the town and beyond.  Those social circles have also stimulated the night-life in Kirkby Town Centre, and not just the working hours presence in the office.

The third major loss

This is not the first devastating loss to Kirkby and our town centre.

In 2013, the Kirkby campus on Knowsley Community College was effectively closed, and most of the buildings demolished, with just a single building remaining out of a vast campus.  This was a facility that had millions of central government funding spent on it in the early 2000s.  Not only did we lose the education opportunities on our doorstep, but Kirkby Town Centre lost the footfall from all of the students.

To make matters worse, in 2016/17 the local council building was demolished, destroying all sorts of facilities that could have been used to stimulate local businesses, along with the accompanying loss of jobs and relocations.  Clearly, there were impacts from the 2010 Coalition government and austerity cuts to local authority funding, but regardless of cause this was a blow to Kirkby Town Centre.

Parking charges

It’s interesting that Barclaycard noted free on-site parking as a benefit of moving Kirkby’s operations to Wavertree.  Was the condition of the multi-story car park and the parking charges a factor in the move?  Has the disruption to the availability of the multi-storey car park due to the Morrisons building work been a factor?

The reason to ask these questions is that Knowsley Council might want to consider its future car parking policy so as to ensure the facilities exist to support future use of the Barclaycard building.

The future

Knowsley Council’s statement on this matter is particularly dismaying because what it would be really good to hear is a statement of future intent.  To the best of our knowledge, Barclaycard leases the building from another organisation, which is not Knowsley Council.

What we want to hear is that all available effort will be made to ensure that the current Barclaycard building is put to a new suitable purpose.  Attracting a new major organisation to take on sole occupancy in place of Barclaycard is one option.  Another would be to attract lots of smaller businesses to occupy part of a floor, all of one floor, or more than one floor.  The building could become a spring-board for new businesses and be part of Kirkby’s regeneration. If current conditions don’t allow for this, due to decreasing demand for office space, then an alternative would be to convert it to residential apartments like we proposed in our Vision for Kirkby Town Centre.

Whatever happens, a shrug of the shoulders just isn’t enough.