"…the delivery of the project (Mersey Gateway) has been assisted significantly by the contribution that DTW has made towards harnessing widespread support from the stakeholder group, which comprises representatives of business and public sector organisations drawn from across the region."

Steve Nicholson, Project Director, Mersey Gateway

The Mersey Gateway Project (www.merseygateway.co.uk) is a major scheme to build a new £600 million toll bridge over the River Mersey. The project also involves tolling the existing free-to-use Silver Jubilee Bridge between Runcorn and Widnes.

We were appointed in 2007 to work with Halton Borough Council and Mersey Gateway Project teams for a five-year period to create and implement a wide-ranging programme of PR, consultation and public affairs. Our objectives were to focus on achieving outcomes that supported the delivery of the Mersey Gateway Project and the wider regeneration of Halton. They were to:

• develop understanding that the Mersey Gateway Project is about more than just a bridge and build and maintain support amongst key stakeholders
• secure relevant formal approvals for the project from statutory consultees ahead of the public inquiry
• provide stakeholders with appropriate opportunities to feedback on, and contribute to, the progress of the Mersey Gateway Project
• engage and interest potential suppliers and contractors in tendering for the Mersey Gateway Project 

Despite a background of unprecedented cuts in public funding at the time, the new Coalition Government backed the project as part of its 2010 Spending Review.

We also achieved significant support from key regional stakeholders and huge levels of interest from potential contractors in tendering for Mersey Gateway.