Liverpool, Merseyside -- (SBWire) -- 03/27/2012 --London did it with Canary Wharf, Bilbao with the Guggenheim. Now Liverpool wants to announce its resurgence and attract investment with a £5.5bn thicket of skyscrapers that would transform one of the most famous waterfront vistas in the world – putting its world heritage status in peril.
That anyone would dream of such a scheme, let alone apply and be granted planning permission, shows how far the city has travelled since 1981, Liverpool Waters resides on 60 hectares of redundant dockland to the north of the famous Three Graces at Pier Head, will create 9,000 apartments, office blocks, hotels, shops and restaurants. Liverpool has grown faster than any city outside London and this week becomes the first European host of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. “We have seen it happen in London so we can’t see why Liverpool can’t succeed in boosting their economy with plans of the skyscrapers, not only will it boost the community but also raise the capital as it is creating both homes, jobs, hotels the lot” says a source at Gateway Mersey.
Pitched at Chinese investors, were speakers ranged from Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin founder, to John Bishop, the Scouse comic. Liverpool Waters features the Shanghai Tower, a 55-storey edifice that will dwarf the Liver Building, the city’s symbol, because of this a lot of opinions have been raised as to weather the proposed plans should go ahead, English Heritage and Unesco (the UN cultural agency) have opposed the ideas saying it could take away the world heritage site designation Liverpool earned in 2004 as an example of a maritime city at the height of Britain’s empire. Henry Owen-John North west director of English Heritage said It had not blocked recent buildings on the waterfront but Liverpool waters was too dense and would eradicate the 19th century docks the revolutionised world trade. He said “We would like to see Liverpool open a new character without obliterating what has gone before” Our source for Gateway Mersey said “We understand both points of view, with new investments there is always for and against opinions. English Heritage does not want the building plans to go forth as they feel they would be destroying a piece of history, While the latter sees the potential jobs created by the restaurants and the homes created my the apartments, with the plans going ahead there is always going to be someone who will be upset”
Labour Leader of the city council Joe Anderson said “Liverpool has to grow and redevelop if we are to thrive and succeed in the future. We do not live in the past. We are not a museum” While much of the population tends to agree with him.
Andy Franklin, 50, an IT support worker from New Brighton said he would sacrifice his view of the Liver building for the jobs on offer. “It is a change for the better. That area has been derelict for years”
Roy Jackson, 66 a retired shopkeeper from Liverpool asked, “What does world heritage status do for us?”
Since the status was achieved, annual visitor numbers have grown from 23.1m to 28.2m with spending up to £1.5bn to £1.9bn. Some 39 per cent of visitors even more among overseas cited the Unesco status as a reason for coming, said The Mersey partnership, the city’s tourism board. A source with Gateway Mersey said “If you take a great plan and give it a bad name, highly publicise it and expect people to just ignore it you would be very much mistaken, keeping the Liver building in the papers with conflicting reviews will keep the public interested as their going to wonder ‘Did the build go through Or did they back off?’ It will be interesting to see the outcome of the new skyscrapers to see will it boost the economy or just destroy a piece of history”
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Gateway Merseyside Comments As Liverpool Steams Ahead With Development Plan