Comment: Bringing fresh heart to our city

Jul 1 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

TODAY brings yet more evidence of growing economic confidence on Merseyside. For, even as Northwestern Shipbuilders and Ship Builders was confirming it had landed a lucrative new contract with the Royal Navy -– as revealed in Saturday’s Daily Post – there was further good news in the pipeline for Liverpool.

A £85m eco-friendly housing community, which would bring some 800 new jobs and a totally revitalised Vauxhall Road, is the latest exciting development to be unveiled for the city.

If the Via Verde development is approved – and there seems every reason to think that it will be – it would mean yet another innovative and high-profile opportunity coming Liverpool city centre’s way.

Coming on the heels of the Liverpool One opening, and the continuing transformation of the city’s heart, this is a development that not only seeks to address the housing and social development of an area, it also looks to do so in futuristic style.

From the plan to get residents signed up to a public transport scheme, to the idea of giving every home bicycles, this sends out the signal that Via Verde is far more than just another clutch of new houses and shops.

Via Verde is a partnership between the Eldonians and Viride Holdings, the urban regeneration arm within the Somerston Property Group – and the long-standing relationship with Liverpool shows in the care given to this proposal.

The forethought and attention to detail is impressive; the site’s freehold will be granted to the Eldonians, which ensures an annual income of almost £1m, in ground rents and service charges. That money will then be invested in local community regeneration projects.

No-one would dispute that Vauxhall Road is in need of investment, attention and regeneration. But this scheme – with its green-spec homes, will give it a heart as well – and, without that, no community can thrive.