Monday 27 June 2011

21 Madryn Street-The House That SAVE Britains Heritage, Have, Foolishly, Bought.

"They don't make them like they used to" was a saying I used to hear from workers all the time.
"Thank God I used to say some old houses are only good for the bulldozers".
It takes someone who has restored property to make a statement like that, not some middle class mummy's boy with a silver spoon hanging out of their chin.
Who think they understand architecture because they have read about it in a book, or because some dimwit who has manoeuvred themselves into a position with the local Civic Society says so.
There is an old saying "Any fool can write a book, but it takes a man to hang a door"
I prescribe to this line of thought.

This building click on the pic to enlarge 21 Madryn Street has been bought by SAVE Britains Heritage to waste our taxpayers money on fighting for its ownership so they can claim to be the saviours of society and show the city council, who are twassers, up.
So lets look at it.
It has to be the worst piece of architecture I have seen and having restored over a hundred buildings and surveyed many, many others I think I have an idea what I am talking about.
I didn't read about architecture in a book because I was born with a shovel in my mouth that someone said "there you go, there's your start in life go and dig yourself a hole".
There was no middle class upbringing for me. I just tell it straight because I can hang a door and put on a roof and I mean build one not just slate it, and plumb a house though that's only a semi skilled job.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html
I was there when the Toxteth Riots were on working in the area, restoring properties for poor people to live in....because we had nothing else to offer in Toxteth.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/louise-ellman-mp-dame-of-dereliction.html

This has to be the most godawful house I have ever seen it has been rebuilt with rubbish cheap brick in the 70s. It has lost all of its windows and even has a precast concrete lintel instead of its original brick arch and its front door..........it is a dog. There is no other way to describe it.

Hey but SAVE Britains Heritage have bought it......clever people those SAVE bods.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html

Whats more they claim to have someone living there there should be laws against this in the 21st century isnt Rackman dead. http://www.21madrynstreet.blogspot.com/
Wayne

Thursday 23 June 2011

The Lyceum Bold Street Liverpool-How Can They Do This To Our Grand Old Lady.

Yes its a Whopper alright. A ten foot giant Burger King Hamburger.
The sort of tacky advertising that is now all too familiar in Liverpool. There is nobody to police it and in it creeps.
 So everywhere looks the same as everywhere else.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw it yesterday stuck on to a tinny looking building as part of Central Station just over the way from Clayton Square, remember that area that the Hatton administration allowed to be built,even though it meant knocking down an area of historical importance, a Georgian area of intimate design which had been part of our history. It was alleged that Derek Hatton was also acting as a consultant for the builders of Clayton Square. There were things everyone in Liverpool alleged except the local press. The Sunday Times ultimately did a big expose on him and his business interests while the Daily Ghost reported, what they, said, and some time later. Somethings never change down at Oldham Hall Street. Now the City Council call developers stakeholder partners and run off in a lovers embrace with the purveyors of out of town shopping arcades who want to trash the World Heritage Site.
Joe Anderson should learn a lesson from history.
So here I am standing at the corner of Bold Street looking at the building that Marcus Binney of SAVE Britains Heritage claims as one of their greatest successes. http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/  
Anthony Quinn, originally from Liverpool who wrote his book, The Rescue Man about the changing face of Liverpool during the Blitz, and how a rescue man, a firefighter lamented the loss.
He also told me how he was inspired by how sad he felt when he saw the disaster that was Casey Street being bulldozed.
" It was just there one day and then gone the next".
It was a Conservation area, that didn't stop the City Council trashing it overnight.

So what of a listed building such as the Lyceum and its Whopper.
 My understanding is that anything that affects the setting of a listed building needs a planning application.
So is it alright to put a giant Whopper next to one, well it seems so in Liverpool. A historical Neo Classical one by Thomas Harrison of Chester.
Marcus Binney and those at SAVE should work a little harder to really, SAVE what they have, well SAVED  really.
Its alright coming here, with their eccentrics such as Evelyn Cook of the Nemesis Republic blog in tow, doing glossy exhibitions with expensive catalogues. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/triumph-disaster-and-decay-milkandsugar-liverpool-1630252.html 
But what about the Whopper.
I wrote about the way the planners had passed plans top carbuncle-ise the Lyceum, does anyone care. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/now-lyceum-of-bold-street-is-to-gets.html
Least of all Steve "Ronnie" Corbet of Liverpool's joke of a Conservation office.

So sometimes I feel like I am just wasting my time.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Liverpool Daily Post-What Price A Free Lunch?

Bill Gleeson in the civilised privacy of the Athenaum being entertained by Jon Egan and Bill Le Breton of the marketing company, the then, October Communications, now Aurora Media.
This was May 4th 2005 just as all the frenzy to develop the Pier Head was in full swing.
This was the company employed by Neptune Developments, the NWDA, Liverpool Vision, the Liverpool City Council and who knows who else to market the destruction of the Pier Head.
Shortly after this article came out Gleeson would wax lyrical about how wonderful the Mann Island Development (Three Black Coffins) would be for Liverpool proclaiming that it will be beneficial for jobs, it will be Iconic and all the usual spoon fed rubbish that we heard about it from him and the likes at the Daily Post and Echo. I have kept all his words.
I recall writing to him telling him he had got it wrong and I would remind him one day.........he never replied to me, far too busy...... lunching in the oh so, civilised privacy of the Atheneaum.
It cant be that civilised if they let these three characters in for a free lunch.
The facts are/is they were also doing a marketing job for the Atheneum gentleman's club, oh no, they let ladies in now.
So right through 2005, 2006 and 2007 we had to fight this onslaught of PR everyday, papped up as news.
I kept wondering why common sense does not prevail and why are these conflicting stories coming in the paper.
Larry Neild who I though I was working with, not against us, propagated the term cheese wedges, y'know a bit like the Gerkin, make them seem friendly and likable.
He then left the Daily Post to go and work for October Communications...........I lost all respect for him at that moment.
So what price a free lunch?
I am reliably informed Mark Thomas was entertained by Peel Holdings recently and we all know how much "plumping" there has been for them recently.
I think that the slight of hand that is taking place at the local papers is a disgrace.
A travesty to the intelligence of the public.
Well a con, really, one big almighty con.
All packaged up as news items and good will stories. What you don't know can harm you.
They were not going to print the Unesco story last week because it came from me.
It is a shame that they don't apply the same criteria to their mates who have left the paper and now feed "plumpers" to the editors with alarming irregularity.
Take today  http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/06/21/special-preview-of-60m-new-brighton-marine-point-scheme-in-wirral-gallery-92534-28911692/ and this rubbish about a building going up in New Brighton...by guess who, Neptune Developments.
Where did this news item come from? Well whether it was Larry Neild or not we don't care, its wrong, and disrespectful to the public, who, used to buy the paper. Why does this awful building warrant a full page and its the same set up that we were fed for the Three Black Coffins.
And a disgrace to journalism.
There are people I respect at Trinity "Smoking" Mirrors but it really is in my opinion, a screen these days and appears to be, in my opinion, run by the likes of Jon Egan and Frank McKenna.


All you there at the Daily Post and Echo did you join your profession to do advertorials for Peel Holdings who are about to destroy whats left of the WHS, and, or, Neptune Developments who along with Liverpool Museums and Miserytravel have destroyed the Pier Head.

You may not like me for saying it, but, unfortunately, Its seems you did.

Monday 20 June 2011

SAVE Get A Stop Notice On Welsh Street Demolitions.

Save Britain’s Heritage has scored a major victory, it is claimed, in its campaign to keep the Pathfinder bulldozers out of Liverpool after communities secretary Eric Pickles issued a stop notice

The dramatic move – which forbids demolition without his express permission – came hours before the city’s planning committee was due to meet.
Defiant councillors went ahead and voted unanimously to approve the plans to raze the six streets of Victorian terrace houses known as the Welsh Streets.
But work, planned to start on May 17, will have to wait until Pickles has decided whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required prior to demolition. He has now done so.
Liverpool Council previously ruled that an assessment was not necessary but, after lobbying by Save, Pickles is now questioning this decision.
In a separate development, Save has also bought a house in one of the threatened streets.
Number 21 Madryn Street, a few doors from the childhood home of Ringo Starr, will become the centre of the preservation campaign.
The neighbourhood, named after the Welsh migrants who built it and first lived there, has been under threat of demolition for 10 years as one of the government’s Pathfinder housing market renewal initiatives.
A study by architect Mark Hines for Save last year showed two-up-two-down houses could be adapted for the demands of modern families.
But Liverpool Council leader and cabinet member for housing Joe Anderson said: “I pledged last year that if a developer came forward with a viable proposal to retain the Welsh Streets then we would look seriously at their plans. I am sorry to say that this has not happened.”
He was writing to Pickles to urge him to make a quick decision on the EIA so the council can “crack on and push ahead with the badly needed regeneration of this area”.

So where does this now leave the Welsh Streets. The house that SAVE have bought is really not worth saving it is a house that has had its facade rebuilt in brown brick totally at odds with the area.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/welsh-presbyterian-chapel-demolished-by.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/welsh-streets-save-britains-heritage.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-us-from-save-britains-heritage.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/03/liverpool-pathfinders-left-high-and-dry.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/save-exhibition.html

Friday 17 June 2011

Legal row hangs over Liverpool museum launch-Building Design Magazine.

Second architect prepares for museum client’s court action. I have printed some of the article courtesy of BD mag as it is subscription.

A fresh legal row involving the architects behind the £72 million Museum of Liverpool project is threatening to overshadow its opening in four weeks’ time.
National Museums Liverpool (NML) is poised to launch legal action against the firm it drafted in to complete the project, Manchester practice AEW, after last month beginning proceedings against original architect 3XN, which it kicked off the job in 2007.
Although a spokesman for the museum stressed “it has not issued legal proceedings” against AEW, BD understands the practice is preparing to defend itself in court.
This follows a row last year between the two parties that saw AEW successfully recoup £500,000 in unpaid fees.
AEW declined to comment, but both disputes are thought to centre on how much the museum claims it is allegedly owed because of delays to the project, which bosses originally hoped would be partly finished in time for the city’s stint as European Capital of Culture back in 2008.
The scheme has since missed a series of deadlines and will be only three-quarters complete when it opens on July 19. A second phase will open by November.
Broadcaster Gillian Reynolds, who was on the board of the museum’s trustees for seven years until her resignation over a separate issue in 2008, said she was “not surprised” by the legal rumpus and said NML was partly to blame for the scheme running late.
It also emerged this week that 3XN had issued a counterclaim in its dispute with NML.
Principal Kim Nielsen admitted the spat centred on how much each allegedly owed each other. He said the case had not reached the courts yet and added: “I expect it will be sorted out amicably.”

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/legal-row-hangs-over-liverpool-museum-launch/5020002.article

Last week a ceiling collapsed at the new museum, one month before opening and a worker was taken to hospital. It is never going to be ready.

 How does Fuzzy Felt Flemming keep getting away with wasting millions for Fleminigs Folly.
Why does someone at the audit commission or at the DCMS look into his wasteful approach to building his Grand Design.
If a normal person went ahead like this they would be bankrupt. It started off as £21 million and is to cost well how long is a piece of string really its at £80 million now and rising.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/12/national-conservation-centre-closes.html 
pic Rome MAXXI well they look the same dont they




BD keeps sniffing out the news on behalf of Liverpool's tax paying public, who are funding this mess, they have obviously spoke to the builders.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/museum-of-liverpool-sues-3xn-architects.html
Another Architect with legal action.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-want-all-young-black-men-to-feel-shit.html

Thursday 16 June 2011

Liverpools World Heritage Education-Nil By Mouth.

It must have hurt the editor of the Daily Post to have to print the front page against the full blight of its editorial stance and their  "plumping" for its business readers, of who I am advised there are.....well, more than a few less, than last year.

The city was told by Unesco at its 2008 and 2009 World Heritage committee meetings that, amongst other things, they must educate the public, as to the principles of its inclusion in the Unesco World Heritage Site list.
This it was felt would stop rogue councillors spiving for developers and stop the mess that was already in full flight.
Stop the binge build mentality that now sees us waking up to reality, with an almighty hangover.
A tacky application to the heritage lottery was made by John Hinchliffe our World heritage officer, for funding, yes him, with the backbone of a jellyfish, where world heritage is concerned.
I question why he is there, if not to facilitate the spivs and speculators who have got their mits on whats left of our historic fabric. There is a world heritage steering group, steering what?

http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1722

http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1922    Here are those decisions for your information.


We now have our historic buildings looking like aliens in the new urban settings.
Next to the likes of the three black coffins and its sister ship the new museum of Liverpool the Rome MAXXI lookalike, we have Three Graces, overpowered.
 
How many people can boast that they know where the world heritage site is?  
Unesco said a a education programme as to world heritage priciples was required.
Lottery funding was refused and that was that then, no education at all. 

It seems that apart from being jockey-ed along, the local press don't know where the world heritage site is either, or don't care, although I liked Marc Waddingtons direct approach and his honesty when I met him recently.

But who wrote the opinion in yesterdays paper?
 It has to be someone with a gripe against me, my contribution offering Amsterdam as an alternative inspiration to Shanghai for Liverpool Waters, was cut. That would not have suited his friends I think.
140 words, by me, ended up as 14.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/liverpool-daily-post/2011/06/15/city-cannot-be-allowed-to-stand-still-92534-28879098/
In its place, was, as expected a plump for Peel Holdings.
I am reliably informed that Mark Thomas as editor went "Out to lunch" with Peel Holdings the week before last..............see the things you don't know can harm you.......it all makes sense now. 

Mark Thomas has, as one of his favorite buildings, the Terminal Ferry Carbuncle, so we want no lectures from you Sir, where architecture is concerned. Here is what they said.

 City cannot be allowed to stand still

NO MATTER what new additions have emerged on the Liverpool waterfront in recent times, there can still be little doubt that it is a site of extraordinary, spellbinding grandeur.
Nature itself is mostly responsible for the view, as the River Mersey ebbs and flows with unceasing splendour, at the heart of our city’s history – but the enthralling architecture of the Three Graces has done even more to make the waterfront one of the inspirational vistas to be found anywhere in Britain . . . or, indeed, the wider world beyond.
Yet the World Heritage Committee, meeting under the auspices of Unesco for ten days from Sunday, has placed an item on its agenda concerning “the state of conservation of the World Heritage property Liverpool”.
Speakers may well question the appearance of Neptune’s three glazed black wedges, at Mann Island, or raise the spectre of the huge Liverpool Waters development, which will transform derelict dockland to the north of the Pier Head site.
They may say that new developments spoil the panorama from this point or that point, or realign the perspective from a particular, favourite angle.
But can Liverpool truly afford to wrap itself up in cotton wool for generations to come? Our future lies in fostering jobs and investment to cater for the Liverpudlians of the future. People come from far and wide to savour our heritage, so it is undoubtedly important, but it is misguided to put at risk exciting, innovative job-creating developments for the sake of fossilising our waterfront for all time.
The loud and vociferous heritage lobby on Merseyside have become adept at raising the alarm over every perceived threat to the area – but they speak out of all proportion to the size of their membership. They surely do not speak for the vibrant business community, whose importance in safeguarding the future prosperity of our city cannot be underestimated.
Instead, they hanker for a heritage which is important, yes, but must be allowed to evolve in the best interests of Liverpool.
If the waterfront and everything around it stagnates because of over-exaggerated claims about new developments, investors will stay away – and our economy will stagnate along with it. That must not be allowed to happen. 


In today's reporting reality we dont have to be fed by the local papers though and here is Correspondents take on the matter. http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/decision-time-for-unesco-port-of.html 
I know which one I prefer.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Liverpools World Heritage Status Faces Fresh Review-The Liverpool Daily Post Says

I met with Marc Waddington last week and he listened to what I had to say about the threats to Liverpools WHS.
Despite nobody at the local press being aware of a Unesco world heritage committee meeting he wrote it up. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/06/15/liverpool-world-heritage-site-future-under-spotlight-at-unesco-paris-conference-in-development-row-92534-28879640/ And today's front page looks like this.

English Heritage have commissioned an independent report that damns the proposed Liverpool Waters scheme will will obliterate the Overall Universal Value of Liverpool's Maritime and Mercantile World Heritage Site. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/liverpool-waters-english-heritage.html
CABE slam the proposals. http://www.cabe.org.uk/transfer/liverpool-waters.pdf
Unesco may be like a big lumbering Elephant but when they fall on you it hurts.

We need to protect our WHS at all costs.

Monday 13 June 2011

Will Unesco Focus Hearts And Minds In Liverpool.

All my life I have waited for Liverpool to pull its socks up, through all those dark days when no finances were available, I hoped while we got battered from pillar to post by the national press we could recreate our past glory and be back on centre stage.

All through those dark days could go down to Pier Head and stare at the majesty of what Liverpool was, and hope for the future.
Then I watched while they paved Paradise and put up a parking lot.

It has broke my heart watching our best asset, the central core of the world heritage site destroyed by crass speculation and inappropriate development.

Imagine if they did this to the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal the outrage that would ensue. And the spivs and speculators of which there are too many in this city tell me don’t worry its progress.
Well it’s not its degeneration we are being turned into a laughing stock…this is what they do when they are European Capital of Culture…clever, really clever, not.

Because the central docks are not as pretty it takes nothing away from its historical importance.
The council have already filled in Trafalgar Docks in a foolish decision to let them dump it in with the millions of tons of rubble from Chavasse Park where they built over Steers dock the oldest dock in the world.

Liverpool Mercantile and Maritime city and we try to turn it into Shanghai for a company, Peel Holdings, whose stranglehold on the region is far too great.

My city council who I pay my rates to should be far less gushing to these developers, the whole notion that the city council who are supposed to look after the world heritage site are selling it down the river literally is abhorrent to me.

Liverpool docks are being shipped down river where Peel are building Port Salford and then they say they are to create jobs by building glass shoeboxes in something that off plan resembles Dubai on Sea, claiming this is the only way forward when there are already so many empty apartments.

They can’t build apartments and take away the jobs for industry. Salford will now benefit from industry setting up creating jobs. I want to see my city create jobs not move them, that is our future.

What have Peel and the city council, which in my opinion is now joined at the hip in an unhealthy relationship that stifles debate, got to hide from English Heritage as advisers to the UK government.

I cant see what Peel are scared of if they want to come to my city and trample all over us then they are not welcome by us.
If they wish to build something that respects the heritage of our great city then they may start by revising their plans and it may be a good idea to start looking to Amsterdam for inspiration and not the horrid loneliness and stifling mess of Shanghai, who do they think they are coming here telling us we are going to turn you into Shanghai.

CABE have slammed the Liverpool Waters development saying it will detrimentally affect the Overall Universal Value of the WHS something that they said the three black coffins and its sister museum would not…yes that is how bad it is.

We have one chance to get it right and respect our history, that is our future.

Who the bloody hell do Peel Holdings think they are coming into our city telling us they are going to turn us into Shanghai.

What has Shanghai got to do with Liverpool……..they have built over their history?

The unhealthy relationship between the city council and developers such as Peel is alarming.
The council and its leaders are playing a game of Confirmation bias towards Peel, with our history.

Liverpool Mercantile and Maritime City just look what they have done to the Pier Head, built three black coffins and an anachronism of a museum, if any other city had of done world heritage site there would have been world outrage.

I don’t like to see my city being laughed at we have made too many mistakes.
Liverpool’s Heritage is at risk here and as a WHS is of concern to all.

Thursday 9 June 2011

Liverpool "Pulled In" by Unesco Under A State Of Conservation Alert.

We at LPT as adviser's to Unesco have kept them regularly informed.


We have been dealing with the DCMS for 6 years now who are the body responsible for upholding World Heritage Principles.
Not the local councillors and their cronies who are far too embroiled with its “cosy” developers.
We have worked so hard to ensure that the principles of Liverpool’s WHS inscription are upheld, for not just the benefit of a few speculators but for its citizens against a relentless tide of binge build mentality that now sees us waking up with an architectural hangover.
It is with regret that successive city councils forget that the signing up to a Unesco charter comes with responsibilities attached and these important matters go above the need to enable any developer who comes along to knock up a few thousand apartments and say its progress.

Mann Island and Liverpool’s World Heritage Waterfront are a good reference point. They promised us Iconic and delivered I chronic, a laughing stock, an example of how to destroy your best asset, a world heritage asset with, Three Black Coffins an anachronism of a museum that is a sad rip off of the Rome MAXXI, oh, and its little brother the 2009 BD Carbuncle Cup winning Terminal Ferry Building right in front of the Three Graces.

To thinks that all this was happening while Liverpool was European Capital of Culture.

The wider aspect of Liverpool’s World Heritage principles in general were ordered to be protected, by Unesco, and were also ordered to be taught to Liverpool’s citizens, by its city council, as a let off the hook after its 2006 monitoring mission and its subsequent directives after World Heritage Committee meetings in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and to the DCMS.

This has not been done even now when Liverpool goes before Unesco in June, again, under a state of conservation.
It is up to us at the LPT, as world heritage watchdogs and concerned individuals to inform the press of the embarrassing occasion and thus educate the public as to the risks. It does not seem despite Liverpool having a world heritage officer, that the city council will provide any information to advise the public as a whole.
Liverpool could be put on the Unesco at risk register for failing to take the WHS principles seriously and to protect its values.

English Heritage and CABE have said the Liverpool Waters proposals could cause significant harm to the Overall Universal Value of the World Heritage Property while the city council under its misguided leadership go head long into building Shanghai on the Mersey at the behest of the rather arrogant Peel Holdings.

We are not apposed to development and if as it seems Peels plans are to close down Liverpool’s Docks and transfer its business to Salford (losing any future jobs) and build skyscrapers in its place, then the principles of Liverpool’s inclusion on the world heritage list could be affected to such a detrimental way that we could in fact lose the WHS status.

This would be a most embarrassing state of affairs indeed, and it could happen.
It seems that the simplest way to respect the property if development is to take place, is to look to more humane examples such as Amsterdam where the size and scale of development around its historic waterways is both humane and functional and this city should be set up as an example.

Dubai should not be the point of reference.

There is no point in destroying your best asset for short-term gain for tax exiles, speculators and spivs.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/06/liverpool-back-under-unesco-microscope.html
 
In a draft speech that we have obtained prepared by Liverpool City Council, Joe Anderson will make at the Liverpool Office, or Embassy in London the last paragraph says Quote;
 
"Liverpool is full of investment opportunities it is not just the Liverpool Skyline that is unrecognisable but its ability and confidence to do business"
Says it all really.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Liverpool Back Under The Unesco Microscope In June

Liverpools World Heritage Site is to be under the microscope in Paris on 19th June 2011.


We are advisors to Unesco and have kept them more than informed with the progress of the proposals for the Liverpool Waters planning application.


We have received notification from Patricia Alberth of Unesco stating that,

We are pleased to confirm that the state of conservation of the World Heritage

property "Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City" (UK) will be on the agenda of

the 35th session of the World Heritage Committee (Paris, 19-29 June 2011).

Subject: State of conservation of the World Heritage property "Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City" (UK)

Yours sincerely,
Patricia Alberth



English Heritage have raised considerable objections to Liverpool Waters

I have posted their executive summary online, as it seems the council or Peel Holdings have no intention of doing so, it is so damning. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/liverpool-waters-english-heritage.html


CABE also slam the proposals http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/cabe-slam-liverpool-waters.html



We first advised Unesco in 2005 when the idea for a Fourth Grace(sic) was muted.

Liverpool had to entertain a Unesco monitering mission from Unesco at our request in http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1180  October 2006 just before the proposals for the Mann Island Development, now built and known locally as the Three Black Coffins were discussed by the Planning Committee. http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2006/03/14/capcult_regen_mann_island_feature.shtml  This is what I had to say at the time.

Unesco were far from happy with Liverpool

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b010r7by/  This is a recent Radio 4 interview I did for the Beyond Westminster discussing the corrupted planning process in Liverpool. Mann Island is 12 minutes into the piece about planning legislation.

Mann Island went to a casting vote by Lady Doreen Jones your typical planning committee chairperson anachronism and cronie.

Liverpool was let off the hook Unesco sated that despite loss of some KEY VIEWS the Overall Universal Value (OUV) was not directly affected. http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/1150.pdf  Monitering mission report.

The proof is there for all to see and the DCMS had to give explanations to Unesco for the mess.

Unesco had 18% of its budget paid by the UK government and its permanent delegation was in disarray with a further mission to the Tower of London and threats to Bath and Edinburgh also under the spotlight.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1150

Numerous directives were given to Liverpool the most important being the need to produce a supplementary Planning Document outlining its commitment to World Heritage Principles.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1252

http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1722

http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1922

Now English Heritage who did not object to the recent decimation of Liverpools Pier Head and its waterfront say that if plans for Liverpool Waters went ahead it would harm the OUV of Liverpools World Heritage Site.

Watch This Space.

Friday 3 June 2011

Liverpool Mercantile and Maritime City, What A Joke!

What a complete and utter mess we had a billion pounds of European cash and what did it get us.



A shopping centre at Grosvenor-pool and a ruined Pier Head. pic John Whittaker courtesy of Southampton Echo
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/06/03/cruise-company-abandoning-liverpool-says-city-has-not-got-its-act-together-100252-28811371/
Today Bobby Bartlett at The Daily Ghost reminds us what a shambolic state of affairs this is.

He says;
A LEADING cruise company boss said the company had pulled its liners out of Liverpool because the city had failed to "get their act together".

The ECHO and Post revealed last year how Fred Olsen Cruise Lines was pulling out of the city, despite practically selling out 7,700 berths on nine cruises in 2010.
Nigel Lingard, the marketing director of Fred Olsen, specifically pointed out Liverpool was not included while launching the company’s new 2012-13 brochure.
He said: "They still haven’t got their act together, so we are pulling out."
Liverpool council is currently lobbying the government to win the city the right to establish a full cruise liner terminal, allowing trips to start and finish on the River Mersey.

All the comments waffle on about all the same brainwashed stuff about Southampton blocking the use of the Cruise Liner Jetty as a going concern. Liverpool will be blocked from using this by European legislation on unfair competition rules that the Fib-Dem spivs who commissioned it thought they could ignore. And Peel want to build a facility in the proposed Liverpool Waters.........how convenient to have it not working!


Remember this was the same paper who proclaimed how wonderful it was that we had a new Cruise Turnaround Facility................without researching the facts, without revealing that Peel Holdings still own the road that leads to the jetty. 

Further reading or click the labels at the bottom of this post.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/cruising-from-liverpools-langton-dock.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/cruise-from-liverpool.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-have-peel-holdings-ever-done-for.html