Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has given the go-ahead for a £96m funding package to build the Liverpool Baltic station.

The decision paves the way for a planning application to be submitted to Liverpool City Council in October.

Pending approvals from the Department for Transport, construction would begin next year, with the Mayor pledging to have the station open by 2027.

The investment will fund the new station, set to be located on Merseyrail’s Northern Line, alongside improvements to active travel and surrounding public spaces.

Plans for Liverpool Baltic station include step-free access from street to train, passenger waiting facilities, fully accessible passenger toilets, secured monitored cycle parking and links to an enhanced local active travel network

The new Merseyrail station is one of four planned by recently re-elected Liverpool City Region Mayor.

The other three new stations at Daresbury in Halton, Woodchurch on the Wirral and Carr Mill in St Helens, with work to develop all three underway by the end of the decade.