Model village in planning battle to build new centre

Oct 4 2007 by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post

PLANS to build a £90m “town centre” in Liverpool’s award-winning Eldonian Village are to face opposition from council planning managers.

They want the council’s planning committee to reject the proposals at a meeting next Tuesday, saying the inner-city site is earmarked for industrial use.

The plans are for shops, offices, leisure facilities, restaurants and bars created alongside more than 400 new apartments and houses on a site between Leeds Street, Pall Mall and Vauxhall Road.

Tony McGann, one of the founders of the Eldonian village, claims the scheme would create hundreds of jobs for local people.

It would also give the village, carved out of the remnants of the old Tate and Lyle sugar factory, its first real centre in a community of several thousand people that boasts just one corner shop.

The project has been backed by local Kirkdale councillors Joe Hanson, Pat Holleran and Malcolm Kennedy.

They say the scheme will give the area a landmark building as well as draw in hundreds of families owning their own homes.

“This scheme will create a significant number of jobs for local people,” said Cllr Hanson.

The plan envisages 401 apartments in a series of seven blocks, up to nine storeys high, with the homes offered for sale.

The distinctive element of the development, to be known as Via Verde, would be its commitment to social enterprise and community involvement through working arrangements with the Eldonian Group, as well as a strong green agenda.

The scheme, by developer Viride Holdings, would use renewable materials, promote energy efficiency and support sustainable transport, giving residents the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint.

In a report to the planning committee, planning managers say the proposals would mean a departure from the planning blueprint, known as the Unitary Development Plan.

This lays down details of what various sites around the city can be used for.

The Eldonian village, one of the country’s first housing co-operatives, was originally formed to create a lifeline for the Vauxhall area, battered by the closures of Tate and Lyle and the BAT tobacco factory.

It won support from Prince Charles for the way the community worked together to rise like a phoenix.

Planning manager Nigel Lee says even though the proposals include office space and shops, the main thrust is residential development.

A report by consultants GVA Grimley reveals there is a shortage of business and warehouse space in the city centre.

Mr Lee says the area could attract mixed uses that have a higher emphasis on employment, and as a result wants permission refused.

larryneild