Liverpool ordered to safeguard waterfront

Sep 13 2007 by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post

A BLUEPRINT to protect Liverpool’s World Heritage Site is to be drawn up on the orders of Unesco, the body responsible for protecting iconic areas.

The blueprint forms part of an action plan aimed at involving the wider public in schemes earmarked for sensitive sites around the historic waterfront.

The North West Development Agency has agreed to pay £100,000 and English Heritage £20,000 towards the cost of drawing up the new policy.

Its aim will be to spell out to developers what is allowed in areas falling within the heritage site as well as the buffer zone around the site.

The city council’s executive board will tomorrow debate the calls for better planning controls for the site that takes in the Pier Head, Castle Street and historic areas of the city.

The council’s world heritage officer, John Hinchliffe, said in a report to the executive board that the World Heritage Committee had picked up on a number of issues raised by Unesco.

Last night, heritage activists welcomed the move, but said the action was two years too late.

Wayne Colquhoun, chairman of Liverpool Preservation Trust said: “The damage has already been done to the critical areas of the WHS around Mann Island. Had the controls already been in place I am sure that the Mann Island schemes would not have won approval.”

Work has already started on the new Museum of Liverpool and site preparation work is about to start for Neptune’s three cheese-wedge shaped granite-faced blocks close to The Strand.

Last October, a mission representing the Paris-based World Heritage Centre arrived in Liverpool to examine concerns raised by conservationists about waterfront developments.

It raised fears that Unesco could place the city’s WHS on an “at risk” register, a pre-cursor to having the inscription removed from the world list.

City councillors breathed a sigh of relief when the Unesco report concluded that schemes, such as the Mann Island developments, were “not an imminent threat” to the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site.

But in a caveat to their conclusions the World Heritage Committee warned that potential threats to the visual integrity of the WHS may still exist.

Another worry is that the potential impact of contemporary proposals on historic areas such as the Pier Head remain difficult to assess.

The committee hailed the refurbishment of St George’s Hall as an outstanding example of heritage preserv- ation. But the committee recognised that the process of management could be further improved.

Three key recommendations have been made to the city council as a way forward:

The council should further improve its information, consultation and participation processes. Local communities should be involved, with arguments for and against new schemes aired publicly to ensure more informed decision making;

The council should improve its methods for the management of new developments inside the WHS and the adjoining buffer zone. There has to be particular emphasis on the height of buildings, as well as locations and design;

The city council should rapidly produce a supplementary planning document covering these issues and indicate how the World Heritage Committee will be consulted and enabled to express its views on the issue, says the report.

The council should also raise the population’s awareness of the motives for the World Heritage Site, and in particular ensure property developers and building professionals who intervene in the WHS are made aware of the motives for creating the WHS.

These require the council to provide townscape guidance, including building heights for new development.

Liverpool is to be used by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a case study to analyse Unesco’s approach to the way historic urban landscapes are preserved.

The DCMS has been told to file a report by next February to the World Heritage Centre on what action has taken place in Liverpool to enhance protection of the WHS.

Mr Hinchliffe’s report says: “It is essential that work on the production of planning guidance is carried out.”

A technical officer group, made up of the city council, English Heritage, the NWDA, Liverpool Vision, Government Office North West and CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, is to be formed to produce the blueprint. None of the voluntary heritage groups are included in the team.

Last night, city council executive member Cllr Mike Storey said: “Our aim is to introduce the new planning brief in March. We hope to be able to go out to public consultation with a draft form later this year.”

Mr Colquhoun added: “It was organisations such as ours that initially raised concerns about the way our historic waterfront is being ruined. I believe we have a good contribution to make, but once again we are being excluded. I fear it will be a wasted opportunity.”

larryneild@dailypost.co.uk