Comment: Cost of fighting battle too high?

Mar 20 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

EDGE Lane is in the news yet again today. It seems barely a week can go by without this key gateway to Liverpool making headlines in some way.

From campaigning householders battling regeneration proposals to traffic congestion clogging a main city artery, this is one area that cannot stay out of the news.

Now it is at the centre of another battle – between Liverpool council and developer Derwent Holdings – which could end up costing the city dear.

The potential cost of the legal fight to clean up the "grot spots" in this gateway could reach around £1m.

The council’s failed court challenge to force Derwent to clean up the former Traveller’s Rest site resulted in around £100,000 in legal costs.

Now Derwent is readying itself to fight eight notices on other sites – paving the way for yet more bills.

Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson says the council’s decision to continue the legal wrangle is "absolute madness".

But on this occasion, fighting on may well be the right thing to do.

For Derwent owns 100 acres of land on Edge Lane and proposes a £200m retail and leisure development –- far larger than the existing shopping park - on a par with Speke Retail Park.

News of this proposal will be of keen interest to Liverpool One developer Grosvenor. There are just months to go before Grosvenor’s £1bn shopping, retail and leisure ‘destination’ opens for business – and tens of thousands of visitors are expected to pour through its entrances.

A key attraction for Speke’s retail park is the free parking – and no doubt Derwent would aim to offer exactly the same incentive should it win the right to develop a rival park at Edge Lane.

Free parking is a huge lure. The Trafford Centre trades off it, Speke Retail Park enjoys boom trade as a result of it- and Liverpool One will not have any.

Edge Lane is a key area of Liverpool and is urgently in need of redevelopment – but should this be at the expense of the city centre renaissance?