Skyscraper developer faces £600,000 bill for ‘fresh air’

Jul 3 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

According to the council, best value is being achieved through the sale and the disposal of the land will help the regeneration of the city as the flats will then be able to be sold.

Executive member for assets, Cllr Peter Millea, said: “This is an issue which will be consider-ed by the executive board on Friday and until then anything else is speculation.”

Last night, Beetham declined to comment.

In May, the Daily Post reveal-ed how only nine West Tower flats had been the subject of contracts since 2005.

At that point, no more sales had been registered, and an air of mystery surrounded the apparent lack of sales.

Since the completion of the tower Liverpool’s property market, in line with the rest of the country, has suffered a downturn.

In April, leading Liverpool estate agent Paul Sutton, of Sutton Kersh, predicted that city centre flats might lose 25% of their value in the house price crash.

The inability to sell more than half of the flats in the development until the airspace issue is resolved may therefore end up costing the company millions.

When the scheme just off Old Hall Street was given planning consent in 2004, Beetham was given permission to oversail the highway.

The then chairman of the planning committee Lady Doreen Jones said she was approving the plan “reluctantly”.

Liverpool City Council sold the land used for West Tower to Beetham for £163,000 in January, 2003. It was not put out to tender and a private deal was agreed between the Beetham organisa-tion and the council.

The Brook Street site, once a car park, now incorporates the 40-storey tower.

Last night, Cllr Small said the proposed sale “vindicated” the position he had taken in the first place.

“If the council messed this up five years ago, how do we know that the taxpayer is getting the best value?

“The fact that none of this is open to public scrutiny does not fill me with confidence.”

davidbartlett