The city's cabinet member for neighbourhoods, Steve Munby, has joined his two Riverside ward colleagues, plus nearby residents and venue owners to urge the rejection of a planning application.
The joint call to action follows a meeting yesterday (Saturday) between representatives of Ropewalks Residents Association, Nation (Cream) and ward councillors.
The fight to save the square will be played out on Dale Street this Tuesday.
The fear is if the go-ahead is given for a retail and residential scheme in the square it could spell the end of its role as a hub of Liverpool’s music and clubbing scene. An online petition against the plan has already attracted almost 8,000 at time of writing.
The city council’s last Conservative councillor, Steve Fitzsimmons, who is the licensee of Cream said: “Over a 100 full-time and part-time jobs in Nation are put at risk by this application.
Last week, Liverpool Confidential revealed how developer Hope Street Properties Ltd, had assembled an indicative master plan for the square and wider area which would see the disappearance of the famous nighspots.
Planning officers have recommended the go-ahead be given, but have proposed a clause that would prevent people taking up residence in the square's new flats until the nightclubs have closed for good.
Riverside Councillor Michelle Corrigan says: “Nation and Kazimier are major attractors to the city, both for visitors and students. These proposals put their future at risk. It would be an act of cultural vandalism and incredibly short sighted to allow this to go ahead!”
Chairman of Ropewalks Residents’ Association Peter Schriewersmann said: “The recommendations before the Planning Committee don’t only pose a threat to Kazimier and Cream, they put at risk the future of the Ropewalks as a mixed use area and create a dangerous precedent for the future of the city in certain aspects”.
Another Riverside councillor, Hetty Wood, said: “In their recommendations, planning officers suggest that they cannot guarantee the proposed residential accommodation in the application is adequately sound-proofed.
"Instead of proposing conditions to soundproof the residential accommodation they suggest it (the scheme) should be permitted if the adjacent clubs close down. This would be an extraordinary and dangerous precedent.”
The city council’s last Conservative councillor, Steve Fitzsimmons, who is the licensee of Cream said: “Over a 100 full-time and part-time jobs in Nation are put at risk by this application. And that’s not counting the impact on the wider area.”
Councillor Steve Munby argued: “Three crucial issues are at stake in this decision. The future of a crucial part of Liverpool’s music scene, the broader, mixed use character of the Ropewalks and the principle that one planning application should not jeopardise or lead to a change in use for other premises without it being the subject of a planning decision.”
He added:”I hope the Planning Committee defend these three crucial points at the meeting on Tuesday.”
Cllr Munby has submitted details of his objection to a number of city ouncillors including Labour’s John McIntosh and Tony Conception who are chair and deputy chair of the planning committee. He has copied in other members of the committee.
AGAIN: THE DILEMMA OF WHO THE CITY CENTRE IS FOR
Steve Munby
In his letter, Cllr Munby says he believes the Planning Committee should refuse this application as it stands.
“I am not opposed to many aspects of this application but it could only be considered when
a) Adequate consultation has taken place.
b) If and when adequate acoustic insulation and other measures are taken to render residential amenity unaffected by activities in adjacent properties (In other words soundproof the clubs).
c) The application is completely de-linked from the wider future of the area.”
He says as well as his objection as a ward councillor, he is also writing in his role as Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods. He says the approach adopted in the officer assessment for this application conflicts fundamentally with the ‘Good Neighbour’ principles the council has tried to create in the area between residents and commercial premises.
He says: “It cannot be acceptable to grant planning permission if the noise issues are not resolved. Members of the Planning Committee and especially those who also sit on the Licensing Committee will be familiar with objections I have made in the past over inadequate noise insulation in licensed premises in the Ropewalks area impacting negatively on residents.
“Exactly the same principles must apply to new residential accommodation. It cannot be right to permit new developments, whether residential or licensed, that affect the viability and sustainability of neighbours, whether residential or commercial.”
