January 31, 2009
Liverpool?s heritage
Liverpool Preservation Trust speaks out on the effect of recent redevelopment to the city
Sir, Those who live in Liverpool have had to endure traffic chaos while the massive Grosvenor Estate scheme was built (?Liverpool One, brutal developers nil?, Jan 24). We were told it would be worth the wait but then, on opening day, we go into recession, making it more miserable for small businesses that have not been priced out by the ensuing Klondike-style land grab, fuelled by Liverpool One optimism.
Walk around the periphery of the new estate and you will see the disaster that has befallen our city with bad planning. Planners have done more damage than the Luftwaffe by finishing us off with brutal architecture, and Liverpool One is such an example. Grosvenor may have a few good points but it?s a group of average shops thrown together quickly. It could have been so much better if the European Capital of Culture had not been hijacked and turned into Culture of Capital.
The Liverpool Preservation Trust has fought to cling on to the historic fabric of the city while 46 listed buildings were destroyed. In Liverpool One the oldest merchant?s house in the city was buried under a car park and the first purpose-built dock in the world, Steers Dock, has been replaced with Milton Keynes on Sea.
It is architecturally criminal what they are doing to a World Heritage Site.
Wayne Colquhoun
Chairman, Liverpool Preservation Trust
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