Isn't there already a thread for this, anyways......

A DERELICT Liverpool hospital at the centre of a restoration row is up for sale.

Campaigners have fought for years for Newsham Park hospital, a landmark on the ECHO’s Stop the Rot hitlist, to be regenerated.

Now the grade II listed Liverpool site is being marketed by owner Gateway Properties.



But Tuebrook councillor Steve Radford today said he was fed up with a lack of action and wanted to set the wheels in motion which could lead to compulsory purchase of the building.

He said: “We’ve had three or four planning applications in the past and we’re frustrated.

“Unless the council moves rapidly towards a CPO I believe the building will be lost.”

Cllr Berni Turner, the city’s executive member for the environment, met Cllr Radford and Newsham Park campaigners this week.

She said: “We’ve now got a clearly defined strategy to move forward, and the owners need to understand we’re not prepared to let this building sit and rot – we’ll take whatever steps necessary to bring it back to life.”

In a separate twist, council conservation chiefs said they were planning to write to Gateway demanding a series of repairs to the site.

If the company fails to comply, a formal repairs notice will be served which could also pave the way to a CPO.

Last year Gateway Properties apologised at a Stop the Rot forum for the lack of action. Now it is marketing the Orphan Drive building.

But one property company, Manchester-based Opal Property Group, which has looked at the site, says the scale of renovation would be “exceedingly difficult without sig-nificant public funding.”

Previous plans have included building flats on the site to make the restoration financially viable.

A council spokesman said: “We anticipate any plan would require enabling development in the grounds to make it financially viable.”

catherinejones@liverpoolecho.co.uk