Background

Halton Borough Council is leading a campaign on behalf of the Mersey Crossing Group to build a £390m new crossing over the River Mersey between Widnes and Runcorn.

 

Brief

DTW and Politics International were tasked with raising the profile of the Mersey Gateway campaign in the national, trade and technical press and communicating with local, regional and national stakeholders in the run up to a decision being made on the funding bid by the Government.

 

We also had to keep the campaign highlighted in the local press and encourage local people to register their support for the new crossing.

 

Approach

Securing national media coverage was one of the most important facets of the campaign and we initially targeted transport and environmental specialists on the key national press, including The Sunday Times and the Guardian.

 

We also sent news features to the trade and technical press and kept up the supply of ‘local’ stories to the media in the North West. Alongside this, we updated and maintained the campaign website and issued e-newsletters and normal letters to those people who had registered their support for the new crossing. We also produce an official newsletter, entitled The Crossing, and an MP’s Briefing Note.

 

To encourage people to register their support for the campaign, we designed and implemented a highly visible outdoor advertising poster campaign. In addition, there was a coordinated programme of briefings for key stakeholders, including MPs, MEPs, civil servants, local authorities, trade unions and local businesses.

 

Outcomes

We were very successful in raising the national profile of the Mersey Gateway, the highlight being a half page article in The Sunday Times newspaper and articles in many other national newspapers.

 

The trade and technical coverage was excellent and even the local coverage increased, with dozens of press cuttings being generated.

 

The outdoor advertising campaign struck a chord with people who have experienced problems on the existing river crossing and 40% of the people who registered their support on the new Mersey Gateway website did so as a direct result of the advertising.

 

In March 2006, the Government approved funding of £209 million for the scheme. Halton Borough Council is now developing detailed design work for the project. This will pave the way for construction of the bridge, which has a timetabled opening date of 2014.

 

In January 2007 DTW and Politics International were re-appointed to develop and implement a commnications strategy for Mersey Gateway for the four year period leading to 2011.