Warren Bradley backs Garden Festival site plans

Jan 11 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Garden Festival site

LIVERPOOL City Council leader Warren Bradley last night weighed in to support controversial plans to develop the former Garden Festival site.

He said the plans are a “thoughtful and workable solution” to the “blight” on the neighbourhood.

It is the first time Cllr Bradley has publicly supported the scheme, but he has been known to favour the plans privately.

His comments came ahead of today’s closing statements at the public inquiry into planning permission for more than 1,300 homes on the derelict Otterspool site.

Cllr Bradley said: “The council supports the plans drawn up by Langtree McLean because they offer a thoughtful and workable solution to the problems posed by the site in its current state.

“It’s simply not accept-able to leave it derelict. It’s a major blight on the local neighbourhood and a source of considerable anti-social behaviour.”

Developer Langtree McLean wants to build 1,308 flats, mostly in eight-storey blocks, along with 66 individual houses.

The firm has also offered to pay £4.9m to landscape the parkland, including restoring the flagship Oriental Gardens. The company will provide a dowry of £2m to provide for the parks’ upkeep.

Campaigners from Save the Festival Gardens say the construction will harm the local ecosystem and drive wildlife away. Planning permission for the £250m development was granted by councillors in May, 2007, but in July, then Local Government Minister Ruth Kelly called the application to an inquiry.

Planning inspector Chris Turner will hear closing statements from all sides today before reporting his findings to Local Government Minister Hazel Blears with a recommendation on whether the scheme should get planning permission.

Cllr Bradley added: “We have worked hard to get to the position we are in today, with the vast major-ity of residents supportive of the scheme.

“It’s interesting to note that when the garden festival was developed, it was constructed, laid out and planted with a view to being dismantled and redeveloped for housing, leisure and business purposes.”

Green Party councillor John Coyne wants extra conditions to promote green living at the site.