THEY applauded and there was a round of high fives as Liverpool City Council's Planning Committee gave a unanimous thumbs up to Peel's ambitious £5.5bn plans for Liverpool Waters.
A group of Chinese business people listened to the debate at Liverpool Town Hall as details of the scheme unfolded today (Tuesday).
Each supporter of the plan was warmly applauded by the visitors.
Wayne ColquounPeel's number one critic, heritage campaigner Wayne Colquhoun, threw in his twopennethworth, and one of the Chinese contingent even applauded him, until he realised he was clapping the “enemy”, or maybe somebody gave him a gentle dig to restrain his politeness.
“How many objectors are listed to speak?” somebody asked, generating the response from a committee clerk – “four or five.”
One Town Hall regular quipped: “They've had more objectors than they'd get for a house extension.”
Yet here, before some Liverpudlian city councillors, was Britain's biggest planning application of the century, and one that could lead to the first ever British World Heritage Site being chucked off the list.
Still, Lindsey Ashworth, Peel's development director, set out his stall, aided by a slick Powerpoint presentation. Over 14 million square feet – that is Liverpool One 14 times over – over 16,000 jobs, thousands of new homes. Years in the making from start to this day, with millions already spent on preparing the scheme.
Although Ashworth spoke for around 45 minutes, it was unthinkable that the planning committee would turn its nose up on such a massive regeneration scheme.
Which council would, and certainly not one nursing some of the UK's most deprived communities?
Lindsey Ashworth He repeated his mantra: a thumbs down, or a public inquiry, would mean Peel walking away - leaving the 150-acre site derelict.
If anybody had any dreamy idea of using the docks for shipping – forget it, more or less indicating those days died with the death of the Onedin Line.
Yet Peel's development would trigger a renaissance, he said – where Peel develop others follow, often piggy-backing on its enterprise.
Then came the unmentionable - World Heritage Status. Every listed element is being saved, Ashworth said. No docks are being filled in. In any case, the badge of Liverpool is greater than the WHS badge (try selling that one to Unesco).
He went on: Peel has made compromise after compromise in response to English Heritage, who hadn't made a single one.. they don't like tall buildings, he said.
He introduced Chinese businesswoman Stella Shiu, who brought the Far Eastern delegation to Liverpool to witness this political spectacle. Chinese people are eager to invest their Hong Kong dollars and Chinese RMB in Liverpool.
Wayne Colquhoun, of the one-man Liverpool Preservation Trust, was joined by culture-battler Florence Gersten. Both warned Liverpool would lose its status as a World Heritage Site if the proposals proceeded.
Joe AndersonLosing the title would create terrible worldwide publicity for Liverpool she warned.
“In sixty years, since the end of the War we have seen many mistakes made in Liverpool and many of those mistakes are now regretted,” she said, wondering whether we are about to add to that list.
Colquhoun said WHS was a badge of honour, but Peel is not interested in it, as planning permission for Liverpool Waters would double the value of its dockland site.
Fearing the worst, he pointed out Peel's developments around Media City in Salford had won one architectural award …. Carbuncle of the Year.
He urged the committee to respond to Peel's threats by calling their bluff while both critics insisted they wanted the dockland developed, but not with these plans.
Planning Officer Peter Jones, responding to the fears over WHS, said the planning team were confident the scheme did not conflict with the special planning guidelines set for the WHS.
That, though, remains to be seen. The plans have to be referred to the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, owing to the size of the development and because of objections from English Heritage.
Pickles will, later this year, decided whether to call in the plans, possibly for a public inquiry.
The Peel planThe problem for Peel and Liverpool City Council is that Unesco gifted the title of World Heritage Site via a state party - ie the UK Government. If the Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport is sucked into the debate, it could spell trouble.
Correspondence is already flying between the CMS's head of world heritage, Paul Blaker, and Kishore Rao, Unesco's World Heritage Centre director, based in Paris. Blaker is already noting the UK Government's serious concerns about Liverpool Waters.
At the end of the day, Liverpool will have to decide whether its regeneration and its future prospects are more important than world heritage status. If Unesco gives Liverpool the boot we would become the first World Heritage Site in the UK to be de-listed, and only the second in Europe.
To make matters worse, if Liverpool lost its accolade, it remains categorised by the word “De-list” for all to see. Placed forever on the cultural naughty step.
See more of Lindsey Ashworth and Peel on the city council's Liverpool Brand site
