CALLS have been made to overturn a decision that judged no funding will go to the New Ferry community devastated by a huge explosion last year.

A motion carried by Wirral Council this week urged the chief executive to make representations to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to reconsider the judgement that the Bellwin disaster financial assistance scheme does not apply.

The motion also requested that the Metro Mayor’s Town Centre Fund, for which bidding is underway for £500,000 funding packages, is also allocated to the town.

The motion added: “Council urges central government to allocate resources to New Ferry commensurate with those allocated to Salisbury.”

A total of 61 councillors across all parties voted for the motion proposed by Bromborough ward Cllr Jo Bird at the meeting at Wallasey Town Hall on Monday, with none voting against.

It came after it said it had taken 'some time' to establish the scale of damage to people, business and property since the blast on March 25 last year, when more than 100 people were temporarily evacuated.

Since the incident, there have been calls for the government and council to provide more funds for the Merseyside area, and with August’s news that the council had backed a bid for one of the Metro Mayor’s regeneration funds, there are now hopes improvements will finally start following years of decline.

Months after the explosion in July last year, the government was accused of 'turning its back on the people of New Ferry' after the government said it would not provide Bellwin financial assistance for 'incidents of the size and impact of New Ferry.'

The council has so far invested around £300,000 to the cause, and has called for more help from the government on multiple occasions.