Comment: Plan must adapt to the times

Jul 23 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE £1bn Omega site, at the former Burtonwood World War II US Army air base, could ultimately look somewhat different to the scheme which has been discussed and planned for so long.

The NWDA has expressed its concerns about the proposal’s suitability, and is now reluctant to release the extra several million pounds to plug the funding shortfall caused by rising costs.

This is a site that has been years in the planning and developing; it will see a 500-acre site developed as a premier business park which could house up to 25,000 jobs once complete.

The planning stages that Omega has passed through have been legion; it is something that has been debated, considered and ultimately agreed at every level.

So the question about why the NWDA is now expressing concerns is inevitable.

But this is a development on a huge scale and, of course, details will change as Omega takes shape – it is simple economic evolution that the proposal, after all these years in the pipeline, will date and be superseded at some junctions by changing circumstances.

NWDA chief executive Steve Broomhead said the picture had changed since 2002, when there was ”strong market demand” for the accommodation proposed with Omega.

It seems likely now that, while part of the original plan will proceed as expected, proposals for the other sites will be adapted to ensure they are fit for purpose now, several years on from the first concept.

Miller Developments, the company developing the site with the support of Royal Bank of Scotland and English Partnerships, accepts that changes to the plans could be necessary.

Some may interpret this latest development as a sign of difficulties with Omega. It is surely more of an indication that clear-thinking partners are fully aware of the market and confident enough in their proposition to embrace the idea of adapting it where necessary.

Omega, in this case, is very much a beginning, rather than an ending.