Major new setback to Liverpool’s Edge Lane plans
Mar 14 2008
by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post
THE Government’s leading design advisors have condemned plans to transform a key gateway into Liverpool, the Daily Post can reveal.
Cabe, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, has rubbished the scheme to redevelop Edge Lane in a letter to Liverpool council planners.
Cabe refused to support the proposals because they would not meet key objectives. CABE believes the project, part of a £350m masterplan, will not transform the housing stock and renew the property market as intended.
Nor, it claims, will it improve the entrance “gateway” into the city, a key objective of the multi-million pound scheme. It says developers should think again and urged councillors to throw out the planning application.
Cabe is statutory consultee on large developments.
The letter was sent in response to an application to the council by Bellway Homes to build 210 replacement homes.
But the proposed houses are “generic and unremarkable” and the plans repeat “familiar mistakes of unsuccessful housing estates”, the letter says.
Some houses on the estate will have a “bleak outlook” and “limited private gardens”.
Cabe also lambasted the plan for being of inferior quality for such a major application.
The litany of criticism has led a senior councillor to question why the developer did not consult more closely with Cabe to get approval.
And objectors to the project say the letter vindicates their long-term opposition.
Developer Liverpool Land Development Company says it will now work with Bellway to address Cabe’s concerns.
The Edge Lane West scheme was the subject of a public inquiry that closed at the end of last month.
National regeneration agency English Partnerships and LLDC are pursuing a compulsory purchase order to buy up almost 70 properties along the route.
If the CPO is confirmed by the inquiry, those properties would be knocked down with almost 300 others to make way for a wider dual carriageway deeper into Liverpool.
While Cabe agreed with the principle of giving the entrance corridor a facelift, it said widening the road was not the only way to do it.
Cabe’s design review advisor, Menaka Sahai, wrote: “Whilst the intention to widen the highway in this section could be one way of enhancing the journey into Liverpool, we do not think that it is the only way to achieve this aim.
“We urge the local planning authority and their highway department to continue to explore all alternatives and put forward a convincing case for highway widening.”
The letter went on to lament the “loss to the built environment” that would occur if the houses are demolished.
The advisor continued: “We are thoroughly disappointed to see that the design team appear to have used standard house designs which have not been meaningfully adapted and are as such an unspecific response to the site structure.
“We are not convinced that the widening of the highway, demolition of the existing buildings and the proposed housing will achieve the objectives of the [supplementary planning document] to improve the entrance route into Liverpool and lead to the type of positive transformational change that is fundamental to Housing Market Renewal.
“As it stands, we are unable to support this scheme and think that this planning application should not be given consent.”
Cllr Mike Storey, executive member for regeneration, said Cabe’s denunciation was a “bolt from the blue”.
He added: “I’m disappointed that LLDC didn’t work in harmony with Cabe.
“I don’t know why that hasn’t happened. We need to look at what Cabe is saying and look at if we can address Cabe’s concerns.”
Cllr Storey said he stood by the road-widening part of the project, saying the area would remain blighted for at least another decade if the current scheme did not go ahead.
But he said people only needed to look at the “crazy housing schemes of the 60s and 70s” to know how damaging poorly planned developments can be.
“We can be more choosey about design – we don’t take any old rubbish that comes along and can go for quality rather than quantity.”
Elizabeth Pascoe, a leading community campaigner and staunch opponent of LLDC’s proposals, said: “It’s exactly what we said – people said they didn’t want to live in apartments and certainly don’t want to live in rabbit huts that are half the size.”
Ian Hassall, chief executive of LLDC, said: “We welcome Cabe’s endorsement of the area-wide regeneration aims of the Edge Lane West scheme, and their support for the planning policy for this area.
“Cabe’s comments concerning the detailed design of the scheme will be fed back to Bellway’s design team for consideration. We will work with Bellway to address the areas of concern.”
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “Cabe’s views, along with any other comments, will be taken into account when the committee looks at the planning application.”
No-one from Bellway Homes was available for comment.
Source:
Liverpool Daily Post
Originally Posted by AK1
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