Liverpool’s most important ship afloat is for sale and could move to Manchester unless a minor miracle happens. Peter Elson reports on the latest twist in the Planet lightship saga

THE for sale signs are up: you can buy an apartment in the new Grosvenor Liverpool One development for £99,000. Or, for a little more cash, directly across The Strand, you can purchase a supreme example of the city’s maritime heritage, namely the Mersey Bar lightvessel Planet.

A further incentive could be that these Grosvenor apartments sleep two people, whereas by spending a bit of extra cash on Planet, you get a seven-berth floating pad, albeit with certain baggage.

For Planet has been at the centre of a most undignified row about her presence here in the heart of her home city that should never have embroiled this gallant old girl.

There are those who have greeted this bright-red ship’s arrival with a less than warm welcome that this great Celtic city prides itself on giving one of its own.

Quite why music mogul Gary McClarnan (a Mancunian) and Planet’s owner took so long to put the lightvessel up for sale remains a mystery – even to himself.

Perhaps tolerating the excesses of the rock music industry has given him the patience of Job and nerves of high-tensile steel.

Only such positive character attributes can explain why he has not snapped in the face of appalling treatment by a trio of Liverpool bodies which owe him groveling apologies.

The Albert Dock Company and its public space managers, Gower Street Estates, actively connived to have Planet, the most historic Liverpool ship afloat, ejected from the Albert Dock complex.

They disregarded Planet’s value, memorably described by the QE2’s former master, Capt Robin Woodall, as “the lantern on Liverpool’s front door”, while stationed at Mersey Bar, in spite of her worth being painstakingly explained to these bodies.

“Planet for Liverpool is what the Statue of Liberty is for New York. It’s the first and last sign of a great city for seafarers,” adds Ken Martin, of Liverpool Charity & Voluntary Services.

Instead, an ugly turf-war took place, with Planet and McClarnan stuck in the middle. Sue Grindrod, Gower Street chairman, told me in 2006 that her board deemed its scale and colour “inappropriate for Albert Dock”.

John Sloan, of CB Richard Ellis, which manages Albert Docks for Gower Street, also told me back then: “We must ensure that procedures for public health and safety and general activity connected with the vessel doesn’t interfere with (the dock’s) occupiers and public.”

Merseyside Lightvessel Preservation Society, which worked so hard to save Planet, was livid. Chairman Stan McNally said: “We’ve a lot to thank Gary McClarnan for. He’s saved one of the most deserving historic ships for all of us.”

I’ve never experienced such an outpouring of disgust at this row by Daily Post readers via letter, telephone and email over a non-human related story.

British Waterways, which originally permitted Planet into Albert Dock complex, compromised by giving her a temporary berth at Canning Dock East.

A large “For Sale” sign has been erected on Planet and once again many readers are contacting me, anxious to know why.

Leading broadcaster Linda McDermott, of BBC Radio Merseyside, the former patron of the Mersey Lightvessel Preservation Society, says: “We fight to save Superlambanana, but Planet, the little red boat that earned its place in Liverpool’s story, lies unwelcomed by the authorities at the side of the dock.”