Thursday 14 January 2010

THe Scandanavian Hotel-A Shambles

Today David Bartlett in the Daily Post paints a telling picture of the fiasco which has been going on for far too long. This is all we want a fair crack of the whip and a bit of help with the fight to save Liverpools historic fabric before its too late. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/01/14/developer-and-liverpool-city-council-abandons-plans-for-landmark-hotel-site-92534-25597739/  He even follows it up with his blog. http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/dalestreetblues/2010/01/the-sad-saga-of-liverpools-for.html One of the prattish comments from some one calling himself regen man ( Its not Downing who are the Daily Post and Echos landlords is it, or someone working for him is it?) says it is over the top but I disagree so I will print it here. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/liverpool-daily-post/2010/01/14/comment-time-to-sort-out-the-scandinavian-hotel-mess-for-once-and-for-all-92534-25597344/  says
Comment: Time to sort out the Scandinavian Hotel mess for once and for all


Jan 14 2010 Liverpool Daily Post
WHATEVER the ins and outs of the various deals first struck and then seemingly unstruck over the future of the Scandinavian Hotel in Nelson Street, the message to the city council must be that it has to be sorted out now.
Not later, not at some vague time in the future, but now. They’ve had a quarter of a century to get their act together: that’s plenty enough time.
Once everyone has calmed down, of course, we have to agree that, yes, there have been extenuating circumstances. There has been a long dispute over payments to various parties with a claim upon various parts of the building, and there is no disputing that we are well beyond the economic peak of a couple of years ago.
Whether or not Liverpool can fill another hotel on the edge of the city centre in the current climate is possibly open to question. The cry that the city is oversupplied with hotel rooms has gone up at intervals over the years, but has not stopped would-be hoteliers chancing their arm and, seemingly, making money.
It all sounds so utterly reasonable. Yet the fact remains that here is a distinctive part of Liverpool’s cityscape that has been under threat for longer than many people can remember and a final solution seems as far away as ever.
In the years since the building was last open for any kind of business, Liverpool has been transformed, yet somehow the old Scandinavian has not been caught up in the process.
Maybe the time has come after all to throw reason and caution to the winds and demand of the city’s elected representatives and its officers that they get their act together and sort out the affairs of the Scandinavian immediately. And that means now.

Interesting that Tuesdays planning committee voted to CPO the Whitehouse opposite. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/01/frenson-ltd-scourge-of-liverpools.html It is now reported.
Liverpool Council’s planning committee approved a repairs notice on the Watchmaker’s building, in Seel Street, and the legendary Whitehouse pub, in Berry Street.

Officials said that if owner Frenson Ltd refuses to start works or sell the Grade II-listed buildings within two months, it will start proceedings to compulsorily purchase both.
The 200-year-old Whitehouse pub is one of the best-known landmarks in the city centre.
But it is rotting beneath the image of a huge cat by graffiti artist Banksy daubed on its walls.
The Watchmaker’s building was a Victorian watch and clock-making factory.
Planners say it is the finest example of this type of building in the city.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/01/13/repair-or-lose-historic-liverpool-city-centre-buildings-firm-told-92534-25587402/
With the shambolic mess that they got into with our money paying for legal costs. With Berni Turner involved will the same think happen as in Seel Street. How bloody long will this go on for. Decades, they have had to sort this mess out, its not right.

1 comment:

  1. This is a sign of council failure - nothing more and nothing less. I bet not a single person was made accountable for this mess.

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