block of flats on the site of the Stella Maris building and a Lidl store on Stanley Road have been built. The Klondyke Esate located off Hawthorne road saw the Welsh terrace houses get demolished and replaced with 2,3 and 4 bed modern houses. This was after the controversial move by Bellway after residents opposed demolition. Sefton Council submitted a bid to the Government’s Levelling UP Fund in July for £20 million to underpin a regeneration scheme to transform Bootle town centre. The outcome of the fund is expected to be announced in 2023. Unemployment The economic recovery on Merseyside since the 1980s has meant that Bootle is ranked as only the tenth worst area for unemployment in Britain, and all other parts of the region have lower unemployment—a stark contrast to the 1970s and 1980s when areas of Merseyside dominated the list of Britain's least economically active areas. As of 2009, in the depth of a recession, unemployment stood at 12%. In 2022, it was reduced to less than 4%, similar to the national average. Geography and administration Bootle Docks was created as a part of the Mersey Docks and now promoted as Port of Liverpool, with the Liverpool and Wirral Docks, being located on both bank sides of the River Mersey. Bootle Docks are situated at the northern end, that is closer to the Irish Sea estuary. Bootle, along with Southport, is one of the two main administrative headquarters for the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. Among Bootle's neighbouring districts are Kirkdale to the south, Walton to the east, with Seaforth, Litherland and Netherton to the north. To the west it is bounded by the River Mersey. In the centre is a sizeable area of large office blocks, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The old civic centre of Bootle contains large Victorian buildings such as the town hall and the municipal baths. To the north lies the New Strand Shopping Centre, which gained notoriety after the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993. Sports Bootle has one association football non-league team known as Bootle F.C. who currently play in the Northern premier League Division One West. They are a reformed version of the original Bootle F.C. (1879). Education The town has one further education college, Hugh Baird College, located on Balliol Road. The college delivers over 300 courses to more than 7,000 students with course levels