ONE OF Liverpool’s worst “grot spots” will remain a blot on the landscape of Edge Lane following a High Court decision yesterday.
A senior judge threw out an appeal from Liverpool council which wants the site’s owner to be forced to clean it up.
The judge decided not to overturn a decision to quash an order to clean up the former Traveller’s Rest site.
The decision has left a high-ranking councillor reeling and the council itself is said to be “very disappointed”.
The spat comes days before a top-level meeting between the council and landowner Derwent Holdings over the future of that and other nearby Derwent-owned sites.
The company says it now wants to concentrate on developing the site and the Edge Lane retail park – which it also owns – into a modern shopping and leisure complex.
A Business Liverpool poll lists the spot as third in a rundown of the city’s filthiest sites.
The pub was demolished in 2005 and a pile of rubble remains where it once stood.
The council issued Derwent with a notice to clean up the land in an order confirmed in Magistrates’ court in July, 2006.
But the order was quashed by a Crown Court judge that December.
The council took the case to the High Court in an attempt to reverse the District Judge’s decision.
Isle of Man-based tycoon Albert Gubay owns Derwent Holdings. His company offered the council £20m for the adjacent Rathbone Road Recreation Ground, with the proviso Derwent would be granted planning permission to develop the Edge Lane retail park.
Cllr Berni Turner, who represents Old Swan and is cabinet member for the environment, was furious at the news.
She said: “The High Court judge wants a very sound slap.
“I’m sick to death of this man [Gubay] playing games with the people of Old Swan.
“He has left that rubble there for spite against the city council – he wants to force the council’s hand into granting the planning application for a large amount of square footage.”
She accused Derwent of deliberately emptying tenants from the retail park to make it appear more run down.
John Taylor, property advisor to Mr Gubay and to Derwent, said the rubble had remained in situ because it was earmarked for use in the development of the retail park.
He rubbished Cllr Turner’s suggestion Mr Gubay was trying to force the council’s hand.
“We want to redevelop the site and transform Edge Lane and that’s all we ever wanted to do.
“We are willing to invest £200m in Edge Lane and sort the job out but the political leaders don’t seem to grasp what we are trying to do.”
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: “We are very disappointed that we have lost this High Court decision.
“We would expect any responsible landowner to keep their property in good condition.”
Throwing out the appeal, Mr Justice Mitting said the Crown Court’s decision in favour of Derwent was “understandable”.
The Crown Court Judge quashed the order after using the test of the disinterested observer – whom he said would assume the site was going through a stage of redevelopment.
But Mr Justice Mitting said: “If I had been taking this case myself, I would have agreed with the view of the district judge, but that is not my task.
“The court applied the correct legal tests to the question it had to answer and reached a conclusion it was entitled to reach.”
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