Southport Today is an independent news and information site for Southport, Formby and the Sefton coast. We work from public records, we cite them, and we are not connected to the council.
Two ends of one borough
Southport is a Victorian resort town with its own high street, its own visitor economy and a strong sense of being separate from the rest of Merseyside. Bootle, Litherland, Crosby and Waterloo at the other end of the borough face Liverpool and have a different economy entirely, with Formby, Freshfield, Blundellsands and Maghull in between. Sefton Council answers for all of it and keeps offices at both ends, which is a fair reflection of how little the middle holds it together. We anchor on Southport and Formby and we cover the council’s decisions in full, because they apply the length of the coast.
What we report
Sefton Council’s planning register and committee papers, licensing notices, police.uk crime data, HM Land Registry sold prices, Food Standards Agency hygiene ratings, Environment Agency flood and coastal warnings, and company filings in The Gazette. In a town where the sea front, the pier and the shopping streets are all subject to the same council’s decisions, the planning and committee papers are where the real story usually is.
How we work
Every fact is tied to a named source and linked, so you can check the original. Where a record is ambiguous we say so. We write in plain British English, we do not print press releases as reporting, and we do not use other outlets’ photographs.
Corrections and tips
Email hello@southporttoday.co.uk. If we have made an error we will correct it quickly and note the correction on the page, and if something is happening near you that we should be covering, we would like to know. Tips are treated in confidence.
Southport Today is published by the GOB Media Group.