A REVOLUTIONARY community bank that could transform the lives of people across Wirral has taken a major step forward.

A "small amount" of the £5million previously pledged to the project by the council will go towards an assessment of who the bank can help and any risks it presents.

Councillor Janette Williamson, cabinet member for finance, said: "The community bank is and will probably remain my proudest achievement as a politician.

"I can't tell you how groundbreaking and exciting this is and how privileged I have been to be leading on this and be involved in it all.

"What I am asking today is agreement to draw down a small amount of that money to undertake a due diligence exercise, which will advise us on the case for a Northwest Community Bank."

The exercise will involve looking at the customer base, potential community reach and risks associated with any bigger investments which may be undertaken by the bank.

Cllr Williamson said she had "no doubt" that Wirral Council will go through with the investment it has pledged to the project.

She also explained why she felt the project was so important.

Cllr Williamson said: "There is a large section of our residents that have been completely let down by high street banks.

"They are financially excluded, they don't have a branch to go to. Often they can't get a bank account because they're on a very low income.

"Banks are not in the business anymore of helping people, they simply want to make money from them.

"Unfortunately, a lot of our residents are not the kind of customers they're interested in.

"We are helping those people who have been excluded from the mainstream.

"It will help small businesses and sole traders, another part of our community wealth building strategy so that we can start to build wealth up from the grassroots.

"The bank will keep the profits on Wirral, unlike any other high street bank which extracts wealth from our borough.

"They will be ploughed back into the borough."

The cabinet also approved a grant of £400,000 to Peel as part of the Wirral Waters development.

The money will be used to support improvements to the public realm in Tower Road, Birkenhead.

The grant will also help to secure £2.1 million of funding from a central government scheme to support areas critical for improving productivity.

Council leader Pat Hackett said he feels the Wirral Waters scheme is coming together, because projects are being delivered, spades are in the ground and cranes are in the sky.

Cllr Hackett compared the project to New Brighton’s regeneration.

He said that people were cynical about the project in the early days, insisting that it would not happen, but as buildings went up people’s mindsets changed.

He said that Wirral Waters will do more than create lots of houses, it will also bring a new confidence to the area.