Matt Johnson: Heseltine’s role in regeneration is only now understood

Dec 12 2007 by Matt Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

TARZAN and a big bear at Albert Dock in the space of less than a week. This was not for a film crew shooting a remake of Jungle Book or such like, but for two separate yet related events, which speak volumes for the way Liverpool and Merseyside have progressed in recent years.

His mace-swinging days may be over, but Lord Heseltine still has the fine mane of hair which earned him the tabloid title Tarzan.

In his political prime, and as Minister for Merseyside in the early 1980's, he played a key role in the city's regeneration that is, I guess, only really being appreciated and understood now, 26 years on. His return to familiar territory this week was to mark the publication of a new book charting the remarkable impact the River Mersey has had on our region.

The event took place at Albert Dock, a location the former Secretary of State for the Environment casually reminded guests that he had "saved". In so far as his signature presumably appeared on the papers which declared the Dock a listed estate (and stopped the bulldozers moving in), we have a lot to thank him for. He spoke a hundred yards down the dock from Tate Liverpool – itself a development which owes its opening in Liverpool both to the city's links to the sugar trade and the efforts of the task Force created by Lord Heseltine.

And it was the Tate where bear-spotters were themselves spotted earlier last week for the announcement and presentation of the 2007 Turner Prize. Once again, all eyes on Albert Dock.

It offers great, contrasting examples of the city's economic development. In its prime as a working dock supporting lucrative trade on which a prosperous city was built and in its "second life" as a vibrant hub of a regenerated and revitalised waterfront.

As I have said before, I can't believe we will ever know the true value in economic terms of attracting the Turner Prize to Tate Liverpool. And, regardless of whether you have an interest in modern art or not, the fact that such a prestigious and internationally acclaimed competition should come to Liverpool does a lot to talk up the city in the same way as an unlikely ally in a Tory government did in the 1980s.

Now, we have many other allies spreading more positive words about Liverpool far and wide. That's good news for all our businesses.

Between Lord Heseltine signing those papers and the emergence of a man in a bear suit as winner of the Turner Prize, this city has rarely been out of the news. Now, though, whisper it, it's for all the right reasons. Events at the Albert Dock and across town at the Empire theatre on the same night have provided a tantalising curtain raiser to 2008.

Bring it on and let's get down to the business of making it work for everyone's benefit.

MATT JOHNSON is chairman of Mando Group