David Fleming Srikes Again, will someone put him out of our misery.

MARITIME DISASTER.

This is no storm in a teacup. It is another piece of our culture at stake.

3000 members of The Northern Ceramics Society are up in arms at the proposals to put the collection of Liverpool Pottery, currently, in the Maritime Museum at the Albert Dock in permanent storage. Yes ....permanent storage we all know what that means. Worse still it is to make way for…. a café, yes a café, this is another misguided attempt to rob us Liverpudlian's of our heritage and blame us for the slave trade by the Fuzzy Felt knob at NML Dr David Fleming.

http://www.northernceramicsociety.org/
A few people have said that I have been a bit hard on David "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming to which I am of the opinion that I have not been hard enough, he is a walking disaster a nightmare a public relations car crash. I forgot more about Liverpool's Culture last week than he will ever know.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/David%20Fleming
This man is single-handedly destroying my culture and turning Liverpool museums into something that resembles the "Wacky Warehouses" where kids run around all over the place with ice cream, screaming and shouting. The sort of place you don’t want to go to anymore. Sudley Art Gallery used to be great, he ruined that. It is now called Sadly Art Gallery locally.
I attended an excellent study day a decade ago about Liverpool pottery and this was linked in to the permanent exhibition in the Walker, which was the history of Liverpool Pottery.
This was then moved out of the Walker and watered down to all those pots with ships on, and was sent to the Maritime Museum, that was bad enough but now to ditch this, is a absolute outrageous act of uneducated nonsense by someone who it has been said should not be running my museums because he is a dimwit. Yes a dimwit without education in the finer things in life, this little "tin pot" dictator understands is bums on seats.
Can't someone put him out of our misery he is a carpet-bagging net-worker, a disaster wanting to make us all pay for the slave trade when it was nothing to do with me. I don't have to pay for it all my ancestors are from Scotland anyhow.
The NCS were instrumental in bringing to the fore, our ceramic heritage. Volunteers who have a passion for what they do, educated collectors, whose advice has been sought in building up the collections.
Painstaking attention to detail, out on digs in all weathers, in their own time finding the original sites where kilns were, showing us our own heritage, our Georgian heritage, working with the museums under the previous director. And now the tin-pot Fleming does them in with a stroke of his pen, just like he did with the Friends of Liverpool Museums. How can you do this how can a stupid act of getting rid of something as important as our local pottery be replaced by chairs for a café. He hasn’t got a clue.
The public bequeathed this whole collection and the public servants need to understand that they work for us not for themselves.
“We can’t trust this guy” one elderly gentleman said talking about Fleming.
A client of mine, a avid Liverpool collector said to me “He is a b*st*rd” such is the depth of ill feeling towards him.

Someone need to carry the coffee can for this, there is already five times the amount of Liverpool Pottery in storage as is on display at present.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum_Pottery Huge collections are on display in some of the top American museums and we wont have any.
Along with Herculaneum whose factory was at Herculaneum Dock there was Gilbody, Pennington, Richard Chaffers and Co, Philip Christian and more. I want to know about this stuff it’s my history…. this nutter running my museums has to go he is a disaster.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal is Inscribed A Unesco world Heritage Site

British Aqueduct and Canal inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, French Saltworks extended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontcysyllte_Aqueduct
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/533
British Aqueduct and Canal
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The World Heritage Committee, chaired by María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO, has inscribed Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal (United Kingdom) on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and added France’s Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains as an extension to the site of Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, which was inscribed in 1982 and now becomes From Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the production of open-pan salt.
Situated in north-eastern Wales, the 18 kilometre long Pontcysyllte Canal is a feat of civil engineering of the Industrial Revolution, completed in the early years of the 19th century. Covering a difficult geographical setting, the building of the canal required substantial, bold civil engineering solutions, especially as it was built without using locks. The aqueduct is a pioneering masterpiece of engineering and monumental metal architecture, conceived by the celebrated civil engineer Thomas Telford. The use of both cast and wrought iron in the aqueduct enabled the construction of arches that were light and d strong, producing an overall effect that is both monumental and elegant. The property is inscribed as a masterpiece of creative genius, and as a remarkable synthesis of expertise already acquired in Europe. It is also recognized as an innovative ensemble that inspired many projects all over the world.
The Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains, where brine has been extracted since the Middle Ages if not earlier, features three buildings above ground: salt stores, the Amont well building and a former dwelling. It is linked to Claude-Nicolas Ledoux’s Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans and bears testimony to the history of salt extraction in France.
The World Heritage Committee will continue examining proposed nominations and the state of properties already included on the List over coming days. It remains in session until 30 June.

Fantastic stuff for the local area of Llangollen, its place rightly fixed on a World Heritage Stage by Unesco.

Does this now mean that the local council can build a Oscar Niemeyer rip off museum and three blocks of black granite flats in front of it...No I don't think they would be so stupid...... So,why has Liverpool done so, then?

Liverpool City Council-Spivs-R-Us

Here is something we already know, Liverpool City Council is the worst run local authority.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/06/29/state-of-democracy-in-liverpool-is-slammed-92534-24008289/

Flooding risk in Merseyside is set to quadruple if urgent action is not taken to tackle climate change.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/06/29/flooding-risk-in-merseyside-is-set-to-quadruple-if-urgent-action-is-not-taken-to-tackle-climate-change-92534-24008567/

What happens when the Pier Head and the new museum floods

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/Ferry%20Terminal

Dresden loses its World Heritage Site Status

Dresden is deleted from UNESCO’s World Heritage List
Thursday, June 25, 2009
"Every time we fail to preserve a site, we share the pain of the State Party," declared María Jesús San Segundo, the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO who is chairing the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee presently underway in Seville on Thursday.
The World Heritage Committee decided to remove Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley from UNESCO's World Heritage List due to the building of a four-lane bridge in the heart of the cultural landscape which meant that the property failed to keep its "outstanding universal value as inscribed."
Dresden was inscribed as a cultural landscape in 2004. The Committee said that Germany could present a new nomination relating to Dresden in the future. In doing so, the Committee recognized that parts of the site might be considered to be of outstanding universal value, but that it would have to be presented under different criteria and boundaries.
The 18th- and 19th-century cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley stretches some 18 km along the river from Übigau Palace and Ostragehege fields in the north-west to the Pillnitz Palace and the Elbe River Island in the south-east. The property, which features low meadows, and is crowned by the Pillnitz Palace as well as numerous monuments and parks from the 16th to 20th centuries in the city of Dresden, was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2006 because of the planned Waldschlösschen Bridge.
Dresden is only the second property ever to have been removed from the World Heritage List. The Oman´s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was delisted in 2007.The 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee is meeting in Seville until 30 June. The Committee´s 21 members are reviewing the state of conservation of properties inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and nominations for new inscriptions of cultural and natural sites on the List.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/522

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,471675,00.html

In a referendum of the people it was voted, by the people that the bridge was more important than the World Heritage Site Status.
A interviewee that I heard talking on Radio 4 said "We have not been able to vote in this part of the world and it is more important to the democracy to respect the wishes of the people than be a world heritage site".

http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/newark.htm

Meanwhile Bath has come under scrutiny. Nemesis knows more about Bath than I so I will leave her to have a say http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/06/dresden-stripped-of-world-heritage-site.html
http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/ .

Along with other problems in Bath. It seems that someone called Dyson had decided to put a hoover on the top of a building and that planning application has now been withdrawn. http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/
Nemesis warns of the long process that is Unesco.
BASICALLY IN COMMON SENSE LANGUAGE WHAT IS THE POINT IN NOT LOOKING AFTER A WORLD HERITAGE SITE.

Liverpool City Council-Criminals-R-Us

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%20Hurst http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/dalestreetblues/2009/06/have-the-liberal-democrats-cha.html

Liverpool City Council leader Warren Bradley facing Liberal Democrat rebellion.
Jun 26 2009 by Marc Waddington, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL Council leader Warren Bradley was last night facing a rebellion from within his own benches over his continued support for convicted councillor Steve Hurst.
Members privately say they are deeply troubled that the local party rules – which appear to forbid anyone convicted under the Representation of the People Act to seek nomination – could be disregarded in order to let Cllr Hurst stand again.
Wavertree Cllr Hurst was last year convicted of breaking election law under the Act after being caught distributing leaflets smearing a Labour rival and her husband.
The judge said at the end of an appeal that Cllr Hurst had been responsible for “dirty tactics of the worst kind”, but city leader Cllr Bradley has stuck by him throughout, to the dismay of some members.
Now, ahead of a Labour motion on July 8 calling on Cllr Hurst to resign from his seat, several senior Lib-Dem sources say there is a strong chance some will abstain from voting to avoid being whipped into supporting Cllr Hurst.
The issue is gaining importance as the Lib-Dems currently have a wafer-thin majority of one, and just a couple of defections could see the party lose power in Liver-pool for the first time in 11 years.
Cllr Hurst’s term of office comes to an end next year in the safe Wavertree seat.
Some party colleagues fear the ongoing scandal could affect their chances of re-election.
The Daily Post has obtained a copy of a candidate application form sent out ahead of the selection of candidates for the 2010 elections.
The form states that “people who have been guilty of corrupt or illegal practices under the Representation of the People Act are disqualified from being a candidate”.
A spokesman from the party’s national office said: “Cllr Hurst declared his conviction to his local party in line with their standard approval procedures and has been re-approved for selection by his local party.”
This statement appears to contradict the candidate form, but the national office said it could not get further involved unless it received a complaint from a member of the public or a Lib-Dem party member.
Last night Cllr Bradley declined to comment and said it was an internal party matter.
Senior Lib-Dems told the Daily Post Cllr Bradley’s support for Cllr Hurst had “split the party from top to bottom” and it could cost the party control of the council at next year’s local elections.
One member said: “I was going to say in a way I feel sorry for Steve but actually, I don’t. He is no friend of mine. But he was Warren’s best mate and that’s the ticket to power and influence.”
Another said: “He has got a criminal record. It shows a total lack of judgement on the leader’s part.”
The Daily Post understands that prior to an earlier Labour no confidence vote, efforts were made to locate Cllr Stuart Monkcom – on holiday in Guernsey at the time –with a view to even flying him back for the vote.
When asked about his position on the matter, Cllr Monkcom said that it would have been “incongruous” for him to take part in such a vote as he was a member of the city council’s standards committee.
Lib-Dem Cllr Roger Johnston was picked up and returned by taxi to the Royal Hospital to be able to take part in the recent vote.
Cllr Johnson dismissed sugges-tions he had been forced to attend, but said he felt “the rules were quite clear” about whether Cllr Hurst is allowed to stand again.
Last night Cllr Joe Anderson, Labour leader, said: “If a convicted criminal is allowed to get away with it, it will be a slap in the face to the legal system.
“I know there are decent Lib-Dem councillors and I hope they will back our motion.”
In May the Daily Post revea-led how campaigning grand-mother Elizabeth Pascoe is planning to stand in 2010’s elections against Cllr Hurst.
Ms Pascoe, who has battled against Edge Lane regeneration, said she wanted to take a stand against the Lib-Dems’ decision to allow him to remain part of the group and appoint him to a £5,675 position on Merseytravel’s board.
At the time Cllr Bradley said: “I am sure Steve will be re-elected for Wavertree next year.”


WHAT A DICK YOU ARE MR BRADLEY.

http://www.warrenbradley.com/ Check out his website. He has gone mad.

Once after my interview on BBC Northwest talking about my disgust for the proposals at the Pier Head, he, next on said "Liverpool has always had controversy, there was a lot of controversy when they built the Liver Buildings 800 years ago".

I should YouTube it.

Wayne Colquhoun

UNESCO-Have they given up on Liverpool?

UNESCO MEET IN SEVILLE AND ON THE AGENDA IS LIVERPOOL.

We need another monitoring mission back in Liverpool. Nothing else will do. How can someone in Paris decide from a report in 2006 how Liverpool's World Heritage Site is doing while they have crawled all over it with shoebox flats.

Do Unesco really Care about Liverpool?
http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/519 See Unesco links on top right hand corner.

I have to be a bit careful popping into other Cities World Heritage problems because it is difficult enough to keep pace with all the political intrigue and vested interets of ours in Liverpool. http://www.ewht.org.uk/Home.aspx
http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/
I have today added the above blog to our list because I feel they in Edinburgh are going through similar to what we in Liverpool went through before the Liverpool world heritage site was destroyed. We wish them well in their plight.
Why do they, Liverpool and all UK sites not have World Heritage Committees made up of a cross section of Conservationists.
BATH is also on the UNESCO agenda.
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/team-happy-Bath-heritage/article-1105135-detail/article.html?cacheBust=ftIjl2awnYLg&authid=uxxf3wRdKgaFZQBu2VW1Ll6bJfOtKqeFjgzAwM1T0uXOnhRkX1245915974147&success=true#community
HAVE UNESCO GIVEN UP ON THE UNITED KINGDOM?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p003h4qf/Breakfast_with_Richard_Wyatt_25_06_2009/

What happened to the Government White Paper on Heritage?
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/worldheritagesitesconsultation

Mann Island-The Damage Has Been Well and Truly Done

Here is what we had and below what we have now got.
The Daily Post has done a debate today (2 years too late unfortunately) bringing in some big guns, well apart from Peter Brown who as the chairman of the Merseyside Civic Society. Who has let it go down the drain until it is no more than a weak drivel.
He teaches at Liverpool University.
Rob Mason of Neptune Developments trained at Liverpool University as did Matt Brooks the Architect of the "Three Grotesques". How strange that he should then support the scheme after telling me that the development was awful. Pat Moran is a council member of the Civic Society, along with Tony Moscardini the only ones I trust to tell the truth. I resigned as a council member in disgust at the vested interests within the Society, after being invited on the council. They have no presence at all. Unless it affects the individuals directly they dont seem to care. Monthly meetings of three for the Civic Society are not uncommon. What a waste of time.
Big hitters such as Gavin Stamp know what they are talking about he has made at least two programmes and written so much about Liverpool he knows the place better than some who live here.
I prepared a Channel 5 programme for Ptolemy Dean it was called "Britain's Vanishing Views". He sketched the view before it disappeared and was unequivocal in his argument.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2006/03/14/capcult_regen_mann_island_feature.shtml
So here is the debate...look at the before and after pictures and make up your own mind.
Jury still out on Liverpool Mann Island blocks
Jun 24 2009 by William Leece, Liverpool Daily Post


As Liverpool’s world-famous waterfront undergoes its most radical change in a century, Peter Elson and William Leece report on the debate surrounding the new development
TWO years after work started on the £120m redevelopment of the Mann Island site to the south of Liverpool’s Pier Head, the public are starting to take notice.
And although plans were scrutinised carefully and approved by bodies like English Heritage and the Commission from the Built Environment (CABE), public opinion is still split over the changes they will bring to Liverpool’s cityscape.
The three blocks, designed by Broadway Malyan, make up a mixed commercial and residential development, by Neptune Developments, in Liverpool, and the northern office of Countryside Properties, in Warrington.
The site, in the words of its publicists, “will become a vibrant waterfront destination comprising dockside cafes and restaurants, shops, sheltered public spaces, a new exhibition venue, 376 apartments and a 140,000 square feet of high-quality commercial office space.”
Gavin Stamp, trustee and former chairman of the influential 20th Century Society, is unequivocal about the three blocks.
“They should not be built. Not only is this a World Heritage Site, but there needs to be a break between the great 20th century group of the Pier Head’s Three Graces and the 19th-century group of the Albert Dock.
“It was fine as it was before with low-level buildings between the landmark groups, acting as a buffer zone so that neither of those groups are overwhelmed.
“It’s nothing to do with the World Heritage Site holding back development. This is just a very bad idea visually, as it does not respect the character of the place.
“I don’t understand why new office and apartment blocks have to be built in Liverpool, when the city has so many fine old buildings and newer properties lying empty.
“This last building boom in Liverpool has been a disaster. At best there’s a lot of mediocrity, and there’s got to be a higher quality of architecture.”
Mike McDonough, of 21st Century Liverpool, a pressure group to promote forward-thinking ideas for the city, supports the new Mann Island development, however.
“Based on what I see, it’s a really good scheme,” he says.
“There’s been so much criticism about the new buildings, but people forget that the Pier Head Buildings made bold statements in their day.
“These new granite blocks are doing the same thing. The Three Graces have a mixture of three styles and what Liverpool needs is that same bold sense of direction.
“We should stop designing buildings which are over-contextualised in terms of keeping their style quiet, but which stand out in their own right.
‘THAT was what Liverpool adopted in the 1900s when it wanted to show it was far more than just a port full of warehouses.
“The function of this building is apartments and you could argue that we have enough of those already.
“But there has been no end of planning and tweaking of the finished design to ensure that what is being built is complementary to the nearby buildings.
“In the same way, the new Museum of Liverpool complements the Three Graces with its palette to match their stonework. The new museum is admittedly quite large, but it’s needed to do a specific job.
“Interestingly, the previous Mann Island schemes, like Will Alsop’s Cloud and Richard Rogers’s scheme, were far more bold than the present one, yet more people seemed to like them.”

As Liverpool’s world-famous waterfront undergoes its most radical change in a century, Peter Elson and William Leece report on the debate surrounding the new development
Ptolemy Dean, architect and co-star of BBC 2’s Restoration programme also wrote and presented the Channel 5 series Vanishing Views, including an episode about Mann Island.
“The whole group of original buildings is brilliant. Until recently, by sheer good fortune, the clarity of Liverpool’s greatness as a port and 20th- century commercial centre was preserved,” he says.
“It’s the spaces between the buildings that matter and that’s being taken away, with the wonderful sense of the skyline, so we are losing a vital part of the story.
“You get a sense of how massive these buildings are because of the gaps between them.”
The three new granite block buildings are, he says, “like sitting in an opera and hearing a mobile phone go off. The illusion is shattered by something interrupting it.”
Peter Brown, chairman of Merseyside Civic Society, personally feels that the Mann Island scheme is a good one, although other society members disagree.
“I’ve been quite happy with the way it’s been handled and the final outcome. It would have been better if there was a masterplan, but in its absence this is the best scheme.
“My view is that it complements both the new museum and the Pier Head Three Graces.
“The new Mann Island blocks are square and black, so it’s a stark contrast with the white of the sloping new Museum of Liverpool and the classicism of the Three Graces.
“I think it’s a mistake to keep a ‘fire free’ zone between Albert Dock and the Pier Head. There is a need for financial stimulation in that area and to show entrepreneurial skills.
“The scheme offered the prospect for this and the architects worked it out well. They also managed to exceed their brief and more views of the Three Graces were retained than was proposed. I appreciate that the principal view from the south is obstructed, but none of these buildings were planned as a group, nor was it expected that these views would not be built across.
“We need a modern statement to showcase the aspirations of this city.
“It’s all consistent with what was proposed.”
PATRICK MORAN, the veteran Liverpool conservation campaigner and historian, says: “There’s a magic number and that’s three, which applies to the three Pier Head Buildings, so they should stand alone.
“What upsets me is that the spaces around the building, which are as important the buildings themselves, have been vandalised and lost. They have stolen the sky.
“The new Mann Island development has totally destroyed the iconic view of Liverpool from The Strand by interfering with the space.
“It completely obliterates the classic skyline, known throughout the world, when we were told that it would not be higher than the cornice on the Port of Liverpool Building.
“This is my Liverpool, the part I love most and when people came here they realised it was a place that mattered. It’s now being changed, but not for the better.”
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-special-features/2009/06/24/jury-still-out-on-mann-island-blocks-92534-23960446/

English Heritage Conservation Area At Risk Report-Double Glazing or Double Standards

Here is one that fell down earlier while English Heretics are trying to do a public relations exercise. See Nemesis blog for another view. http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/06/conservation-areas-at-risk-well-that.html


http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/upvc-windows-killing-conservation-areas/5203935.article

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/Ferry%20Terminal A huge double glazed dormer window on the Pier Head. Where was EH then.

Call me cynical but isn't it strange that this press release from EH is the exact day that Unesco start their World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville.


Today's Daily Post says that English Heritage are now going to stop those nasty plastic windows in Conservation areas. Liverpool's Pier Head was a Conservation area!!!! Look what they allowed there!!!!

The picture on the right shows how the integration makes the old look alien in Duke Street part of the WHS. We do not have to worry about plassy windows on the one on the left because English Heritage allowed it to fall down.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/music/music-news/2009/06/23/english-heritage-report-lists-merseyside-s-historic-sites-at-risk-92534-23947259/ Vicky Anderson says
English Heritage report lists Merseyside's historic sites at risk.
HISTORIC and distinctive sites across Merseyside have been deemed "at risk", according to the latest report by English Heritage – an extensive survey of the country’s protected conservation areas.
From Churchtown, just outside Southport, to the iconic Hamilton Square, in Birkenhead, much-loved areas of the region make the list.
In Liverpool, Sefton Park, Wavertree Village and the city centre Ropewalks area around Seel Street are among the places shown to be in trouble.
Just over half of the North West’s local authorities (53%) completed questionnaires on their conservation areas – places designated to protect their special character and appearance – to give a full picture of the state they are in.
The aim of the campaign, English Heritage says, is to get residents, local groups and councils working together to improve them before it is too late.
Top threats are such seemingly innocuous problems as plastic windows and doors, general alterations, and satellite dishes spoiling the look of buildings, as well as general street clutter and poorly maintained roads, pavements and traffic management measures.
But the 2009 Heritage at Risk register gives details of more than 5,000 nationally designated sites at risk of neglect, decay or "inappropriate change".
Its findings show that statistically, 5.1% (103) of Grade I and II* buildings in the North West are at risk, as are 15.1% (198) of its scheduled monuments and 3.9% (5) of the registered parks and gardens.
On Merseyside, English Heritage holds up Seel Street’s Ropewalks area and Birkenhead’s Hamilton Square as the two areas in most urgent need of help.
Seel Street was established in the mid-18th century.
The decline of the docks 200 years later was reflected in the growing levels of vacancy and consequent decay. Despite action including Urgent Works Notices, long-term ownership challenges have also trapped buildings in a circle of neglect.




Wayne Colquhoun, chairman of Liverpool Preservation Trust, said: "It’s really good to highlight things like this, but really, it’s more about knuckling down and sorting out problems, providing the cash and the expertise to make a difference.
"There are greater problems than plastic windows and satellite dishes – some parts of Seel Street look like they precede the years after the war.
"What English Heritage need to get to grips with is Liverpool’s historic buildings and the way they have allowed the infill of new build to make the old buildings look alien in their own environment." Liverpool City Council’s conservation officer, Chris Griffiths, said: "This at- risk register is very useful to bring people’s attention to question the value of local distinctiveness and heritage.
"I think what English Heritage want to do is bring about a sea change in the culture of how conservation areas are maintained. I’m quite surprised that Sefton Park is deemed to be at risk. Shaw Street has some listed buildings at risk and Wavertree Village has a lot of plastic windows."
Liverpool has 36 conservation areas according to the city council, with eight of them making the at risk register.
In Wirral, English Heritage says Hamilton Square – the largest, Grade I Listed, Victorian square outside London – faces an "uncertain future" due to what it describes as the under-use of buildings, including the recent closure of the museum in the town hall. But local support is strong, with public interest groups and Wirral Borough Council working together in recent years to combat the decline.
Cllr Jerry Williams, the borough’s "heritage Champion", said: "Wirral has embraced the conservation strategy very well and there are over 40 local history societies working in partnership with the council to promote them.
"From a heritage point of view, Wirral is firing on all cylinders, and Hamilton Square is of massive importance, so we are watching this situation very carefully. There are a number of initiatives planned by heritage groups to revive the area, like history trails."
Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said: "Millions of us live in, work in, pass through or visit conservation areas. They are the centres of historic towns and villages, 1930s suburbs, rural idylls or estates of industrial workers’ cottages: the local heritage that gives England its distinctiveness.
"These are difficult economic times but Our research shows that conservation areas do not need time-consuming or costly measures, just prioritising as places people cherish, the commitment of the whole council and good-management by residents and councils alike.
"Well-cared for they encourage good neighbourliness, give a boost to the local economy and will continue to be a source of national pride and joy for generations to come."

Whose Opinion is this?.

STAND UP FOR A NEW LIVERPOOL, THEY SAY.

This is the city that knocked down the Cavern Club and then called itself Beatles City, and before the ink is dry on Liverpool's World Heritage Inscription they were building over our best asset, the World Heritage Site.

We the people of Liverpool own the right to proclaim we have a World Heritage Site.

A little more educated debate would be of benefit to all, one sided journalism, is not the way forward.

NOT ONE OF LIVERPOOL'S PAPERS HAVE AN ARCHITECTURAL CORRESPONDENT.........Why?

Follett’s folly
Given the sensitivity of Scousers to criticism of their city, architecture minister Barbara Follett may not want to visit Liverpool any time soon.
Speaking at a Theatres Trust event last week, she mouthed that Merseyside — a Unesco world heritage site — was something of a culture-free zone before it became European City of Culture last year. Ummmmmmmm had she forgot about the two Cathedrals and all the stuff in the Daily Post editors comments above.

Some people joked pre 2008 saying, the only culture that could be found in Liverpool was in a yoghurt in the Kwik Save in Old Swan.

Its alright for us to have a go at ourselves sometimes the only way not to cry, is to laugh, to make a joke about it. Ken Dodd said everyone in Liverpool is funny, you have to be a comedian to live here. When Ms Follett makes statements like that she is only going to show herself up. She may regret those words as Boris Johnson did.

She obviously has not seen what this city is doing to Mann Island and the Pier Head post 2008.......now that's yoghurt, I mean, culture for yer!

Unesco World Heritage Committee Documents for Liverpool see them for yourself

Unescos World Heritage committee meet for the 33rd session http://whc.unesco.org/ In Seville Spain from the 22nd-30th June 2009. High on the agenda is Liverpools State of Conservation

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1150/documents/
UNESCO World Heritage Committee DOCUMENT 2008
http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/32COM/
115. Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom) (C 1150)
Decision: 32 COM 7B.115
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 31 COM 7B.121, adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007),
3. Notes the progress that has been made in developing supplementary planning guidance which will:
a) clearly establish and respect prescribed heights;
b) define the townscape characteristics, wider values (building density, urban patterns and materials) and sense of place;
c) suggest how design briefs can incorporate characteristics and qualities of the property,
4. Also notes that work has been undertaken to raise the profile of the property and inform the general public about its Outstanding Universal Value and its management;
5. Urges the State Party to complete and approve the Supplementary Planning Document as soon as possible;
6. Encourages the State Party to supplement this Supplementary Planning Document with the development of strategic plans for the overall townscape and for the skyline and river front – as highlighted by the 2006 Reactive Monitoring mission and reinforced by the comments of the Urban Panel – in order to achieve the highest quality and to ensure sustainable development; Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2009, an update report on progress made on the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009.


UNESCO World Heritage Committee DOCUMENT 2007

31COM 7B.21 - Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom) (C 1150)
Decision Text
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Document WHC-07/31.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 30 COM 7B.93, adopted at its 30th session (Vilnius, 2006),
3. Notes the conclusions of the World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS mission to the property of October 2006 and in particular that the outstanding universal value of the site is not threatened although a number of visual integrity as well as management issues have been raised, including the:a) Overall management of new developments;b) Lack of analysis and description of the townscape characteristics relevant to theOutstanding Universal Value of the property and important views related to the property and its buffer zone;c) Lack of clearly established maximum heights for new development, for the backdrops of the World Heritage areas as well as along the waterfront;d) Lack of awareness of developers, building professionals and the wider public about the World Heritage property, its outstanding universal value and requirements under the World Heritage Convention;
4. Also notes the State Party’s report and its reference to the Management Plan of 2004 and specifically requests the State Party to:a) clearly establish and respect prescribed heights;b) adhere to the townscape characteristics, wider values (building density, urban patterns and materials) and sense of place;c) inform the general public about the outstanding universal value of the property and its management;
5. Regrets that the Design Briefs for new development do not take into account the Outstanding Universal Value, integrity and authenticity of the property, and requests the State Party to fully take them into account in future briefs;
6. Further notes that further guidance is required on the definitions of the conditions of integrity for cultural properties as indicated in Chapter II E (Paragraph 89 footnote) of the Operational Guidelines, and requests the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS to work together towards the explanatory text for inclusion at the next revision of the Operational Guidelines;
7. Welcomes the offer of the United Kingdom to support the elaboration of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Conservation of the Historic Urban Landscape with a case study analysis;
8. Also requests the State Party to provide the World Heritage Centre with an updatereport by 1 February 2008 on progress made on a stricter planning control, a set of supplementary planning documents and a timetable for the implementation of theworks for examination by the Committee at its 32nd session in 2008.
Documents
Original Decision Document
WHC-07/31.COM/7B
Other InformationThemes: N/AProperties: Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City

SENT TO UNESCO

Dear Dr Rossler, Dear All,
We have for a long while thought that Unesco is not interested in Liverpool and is going through the motions.The ongoing desecration of Liverpools World Heritage Site is too painful for us here and we feel you have abandoned us to our fate.
We as a group decided that the Supplementary Development plan was a waste of time as most of the damage has been done. It is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
Preparing this document are the perpetrators of the disaster the city council and its planners, that is not a very clever thing to do. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/ we have tried to inform the public.
Unesco asked that this document be debated in public. This has not happened in fact if it was not for us no-one would know of the document.It apears the City Council do not want a debate. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/liverpool-world-heritage-disaster.html todays headlines. We see no point in Unesco discussing the SPD unless another look at what is happenig to Liverpool is done by Unesco.
A return of the mission.
Maybe at the WHC 33rd session there could be an attemt to focus by revisiting the site. I am afraid to say nothing else will do.
Wayne Colquhoun Chairman and Spokesperson

Liverpool World Heritage Disaster-A City in Denial

Liverpool's waterfront to be scrutinised at World Heritage Committee
Jun 19 2009 Liverpool Daily Post



THE changing face of Liverpool’s waterfront will come under the spotlight at meeting of the international body that gave the city its World Heritage status.
Government officials have drawn-up a report about the city’s progress as a conservation site for a crucial get together of Unesco’s World Heritage Committee in Seville, between June 22 and 30.
The meeting is especially significant, given the massive redevelopment that has been undertaken in the city.
Liverpool’s world heritage site will be among dozens of landmark sites being discussed.
Heritage campaigners against the redevelopment of land alongside the Three Graces fear the likes of the new Liverpool museum could see the city lose its heritage status.
Proposals for a 34-storey building at Princes Dock, another development close to the Liver Building and a 54-storey tower on the site of the former King Edward pub, could also jeopardise the city’s title, they say. But the Daily Post understands this is unlikely.

The report compiled by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport into Liverpool’s heritage site ordered by Unesco – the body responsible for protecting iconic sites – for the meeting said: Unesco’s own 2006 mission to Liverpool found:
Several projects such as the Paradise Project were contributing to bringing the heritage site, which was deemed to be fragmented, together;
The museum was not an imminent threat to the site;
The commercial development on the Mann Island site would not compromise the value of the site.
With regard to the 34-storey Princes Dock development, DCMS believes that it would not damage the value of the heritage site, although it accepts there would be some impact on views from the north, and says that English Heritage had no objection to the Liver Building Plot.
A decision has not yet been made on the planning application for the tower on the King Edward site.
Two years ago, there was huge debate about whether the city would be stripped of World Heritage Status.
But, at a global meeting in New Zealand, in 2007, Unesco ruled the proposed Pier Head development did not threaten the “universal value of Liverpool’s maritime mercantile city world heritage site”. However, it did order another report and made recommendations.
Wayne Colquhoun, chairman of Liverpool Preservation Trust, said: “The best views in Liverpool are being obliterated.
“Unesco could strip us of that title and we don’t deserve it, the way it’s being desecrated.”
Cllr Berni Turner, Liverpool Council’s Executive member for the environment, said: “We are taking every step to protect the World Heritage site but the whole point of World Heritage isn’t that we stop new development, it means it has to be of good quality and standard.”

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/06/19/liverpool-s-waterfront-to-be-scrutinised-at-world-heritage-committee-92534-23920964/ Helen who wrote the article asked me "Where exactly is the World Heritage Site".

Well it almost writes itself today except the facts don't quite stack up. Ms Turner says we are alright if we build good quality design. Well if the very people who comment on matters of international importance understood anything about design we would be. alright.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/milton-keynes-on-sea.html Look at the above pictures of the same view unfolding...clever eh!

The supplementary planning document has been buried despite Unesco ordering more debate on matters important to the public of Liverpool and further afield.

http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/tcm21-149053.pdf This is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/world-heritage-waste-of-time.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2006/03/14/capcult_regen_mann_island_feature.shtml

The Daily Posts editor Mark Thomas comments seems to be sticking up for all the developments that the very papers journalists themselves have criticized for years. I think he is putting a brave face on it all. http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/ourview/columnists/larryneild/tm_method=full%26objectid=17811986%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/ourview/columnists/larryneild/tm_method=full%26objectid=18166046%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/ourview/columnists/peterelson/tm_headline=style-designed-to-complement-its-surroundings%26method=full%26objectid=18419657%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/ourview/columnists/larryneild/tm_headline=mixed-messages%26method=full%26objectid=18546571%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/ourview/columnists/larryneild/tm_headline=uninspired-design%26method=full%26objectid=18810407%26siteid=50061-name_page.html This is just a few of the past comments by Liverpool's old style journalists who knew where the WHS was.

Chavasse Park a Monument to Greed

Rod Holmes came in my shop today.
I left him very wound up last time I spoke with him. The usual calm and collective Rodney who pulled the whole scheme together for the Duke of Grosvenor-pool and Westminster was annoyed with me. I had dared to state that the project was like a Trafford Park in the city without a roof on. He went for it “Well that’s just your opinion” he said he got very agitated at one time.
Florence Gersten and I were objectors to the absolutely horrendous Cesar Pelli tower on Chavasse Park in the buffer zone. He had been very worried, we having brought Unesco into Liverpool for a reactive monitoring mission had complained to the Chief Planning officer that they had started work without planning consent. Subsequently a planning committee approval was sought in no time at all. Lady Dorian Jones vacated the chair because she knew the applicant. She had recently publicly stated how she had such a wonderful time at the Duke of Westminster’s daughters wedding…. er hang on the chair of the planning committee who Warren Bradley the council leader stated publicly had mentored him, whose address came up as CH4 9DG, which is on the Dukes Estate ....how curious.

David” I don’t live in Liverpool” Irving the deputy chair passed it while the convicted Councillor Hurst tried to agitate me to put me off. They already had it passed in my opinion and now we have something resembling Widnes Tech on the Liverpool skyline. Rodney was back to his usual calm self today and I did not wind him. His wife had told him about my shop, not sure if he knew it was me who runs it, as he may not have come in.
I had listened to a Radio 4 programme today about the recession and the subsequent empty shops. The presenter was in Chester while the interviewees were claiming a lot of people had gone shopping to Liverpool 1 hitting the town hard. So the Duke of Westminster who has a vast estate, just outside Chester, has helped kill the town because he built Liverpool 1. How strange is that, is that like shooting yourself in the foot or what?

Image 1 The building completed. Image 2 under construction showing its placement in the WHS. Image 3 from the Albert Dock the biggest conglomeration of Grade I listed buildings in the country.

Rod is now chair of Mersey Partnerships. He was mopping beads of sweat last time I was speaking to him calling us the Heritage People “Well we tried to engage everybody”. He said and I stopped him and said “Mr Holmes why do you look at those who love their city as enemies".

He stopped and paused “ Sometimes Mr Holmes your enemies are your best friends in disguise, they are the ones that tell you the truth” I proclaimed.

I wish him well in his new job but we need to keep an eye on Peel Holdings who have far too much power.
http://www.peelwaters.co.uk/LpoolWaters.html

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/developer-threatens-liverpool-scheme-move/1084851.article
The flats at Chavasse Park that we and others objected to, have been reduced again to 90k because they have not sold. They will also give you 5k of furniture free that’s a minimum of 20% down in the year since they went on the market. The potential buyers reneged, so they have not sold. The reality is that if Grosvener and the council Spivs who pushed it through increasing its height from 12 Storeys on the master plan to 17 storeys had of listened they would not have had an empty block and an eyesore in the World Heritage Site, that we will have to live with forever, or until it falls down in 30 years. Sometimes people don’t listen.

Captain Chavasse will be turning in his grave with this as monument to his sacrifice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Godfrey_Chavasse

Littlewoods Edge Lane

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO PUT A PAIR OF SCHOOLS INSIDE THIS BUILDING, ON THE EDGE OF THE NEW ROAD WIDENING SCHEME OF ONE OF THE BUSIEST ROADS IN THE CITY.


When we got wind that this building was to be demolished we organised a successful campaign to save it from demolition. Urban Splash took it over. They have been credit crunched and now.....I think Mike Storey is pulling strings here. It was he who declared that he would help us save it. Even though its my opinion, that I think he has behaved at times like a Spiv he did see the publicity would have been too great against the council if it had been demolished as originally intended. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/littlewoods-edge-lane-still-in-peril.html
The Council planning poodles have passed the plans now.........The Council did not write to us to advise us of the planning application.....we just saved it from demolition.

Planners back plans to build schools in Liverpool Littlewoods building despite business fears
Jun 17 2009 by Ben Turner, Liverpool Daily Post
Planners back plans to build schools in Littlewoods building despite business fears
CONTROVERSIAL plans to build two highs schools within Liverpool’s iconic Littlewoods building have been backed despite a scathing attack from a city business.
The iconic art deco building, within Edge Lane’s new Innovation Park, was built by the Pools firm’s founders in 1938, but has sat empty for years.

read on by clicking link below
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/06/17/planners-back-plans-to-build-schools-in-liverpool-littlewoods-building-despite-business-fears-92534-23895959/
All this despite one of the schools not wanting to move.
read on
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/06/09/governors-at-aigburth-school-refuse-to-budge-over-move-to-littlewoods-building-92534-23820651/

Louise Ellman MP-"The Dame of Dereliction".

Nearly three decades after the Toxteth Riots and what has been done in Toxteth, the area that suffered so much at that time from the lack of investment?

Pic of another roofless property waiting to fall down.
I served an apprenticeship as a carpenter and was working on a house in Ritson Street off Lodge Lane the days in and around the Toxteth Riots. Bloody ‘ell it was scary.

I went home one day and when I come back the next day it was like Beirut…well before Beirut actually…I heard Kosovo likened to Lodge Lane once.
The barricades were up Police everywhere and we had to prove we were working there to get in to the war torn disaster area.

It was bad I had watched the flames on the TV the night before and seen those images of pitched battles anger and sadness.
There was a saying in those days “Help the Police, beat yourself up”.
We got to work and the Hod Carrier tucked his shovel in to the mound of sand to throw a mix together for the Bricklayer and clunk. He moved the sand away. It was two crates of Guinness that had been buried the night before. Jimbo said "Shall we hand it in", and someone said, “No we’d best destroy the evidence”.

The backyard wall was like a snake by the end of the day I have never seen a crew of bricklayers happy at their work, as with a bottle of Guinness in the opposite hand to a trowel. So I was there, I saw it, and being from a working class background knew and understood the "Suss" laws and the disgusting racial prejudice that had helped to fuel those long dark nights lit by the hell of fire.
You can never condone what happened, but it was a fact that the rioters did not deliberately set fire to the properties that were part of the community, like the Doctors on Parliament Street where it all started. I believe that area was a community albeit slightly off the norm and the Police pressure lit the torch.
I drove down Lodge Lane the other day and it looked exactly the same to me.

What have they done with this area or what haven’t they done, it is a disgrace.
Good buildings still without rooves, decaying, waiting for some shifty property developer to let it fall down and build a block of flats. The Council have given up, or did they ever start.
Who Votes for Louise Ellman the local MP? "The Dame of Dereliction".

She has been Toxteths MP for ever. Has nobody scrutinized her lack of effort?

Her premises for her surgery is on Lodge Lane. see below,

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmregmem/memi09.htm

ELLMAN, Louise (Liverpool Riverside)
4.
Sponsorship or financial or material support
Provision of premises for surgery for constituents free of charge by the Lodge Lane Credit Union, the Eldonian Trust, St. Michael's and Lark Lane Community Association and the Southern Neighbourhood Council.
10.
Miscellaneous and unremunerated interests
Vice-President of ICOM (Industrial Common Ownership Movement).
Vice-President of Local Government Association.
Vice-Chair of Poale Zion.

Who gets these local councillors into power, who walk around with blindfolds on in life? It is a disgrace the lack of investment and the decay still left over from the Riots while thousands of empty flats have been built in the town centre. And of course they are now knocking down the Welsh Streets as part of the New Heartlands………yes rip the heart out of an area and then build shoe boxes…. it all happened before in the 60s.

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Louise_Ellman&mpc=Liverpool%2C_Riverside&house=commons&dmp=996&display=motions

CABE-Who funds them?

Just who polices the Heritage police.

I thought it strange that CABE would have an office in Liverpool and thought to find who funded it.

http://www.designliverpool.org.uk/

Yes round up all the usual suspects.

How can you have a local design review panel funded by this City Council promoting the ideas by Liverpool Vision and funded by the NWDA.

UNESCO state clearly in their analogues on Liverpool that they have taken the advice of CABE and the English Heretics, yet recently when I met the obnoxious Paul Finch he was gobbing off about the need to send Unesco packing from Liverpool. "Its none of thier business" he said at a AJ conference in the Crown Plaza. I had a quiet word with him and told him in no uncertain terms that his opinion was unwarranted as he does not live here and therefore what has it got to do with him with his autocratic big mouth.

This conference chaired by Finch was a platform for Grosvenor, Broadway Maylan building the "Three Ugly Sisters" at Mann Island. Henry Owen John. The Riechmarchal Lee gave a guttural talk http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search?q=nigel+Lee cracking jokes like a sad case with no-one laughing.

So just who is running the design of Liverpool.............if anyone at all.

Downtown Liverpool In Business in a Skip

Is it James Bond, Basildon Bond, Brooke Bond, or Jenny.
Just who does this fella think he is?
Well its Frank McKenna from Downtown Liverpool in Business (DLIB).
Just how does he see himself, its hilarious.
OK, here's the way it works lots of businesses sign up and pay him, say, a grand a year and he spends it on hairdos and rented tuxedo's, no sorry, advertising.
Looks like there is only one person he represents to me. I would be pretty upset if my hard earned cash was used to advertise errr, cant see what he is advertising myself. Is it stationary?
I overheard him some time ago talking to a businessman.
"Don't worry I will open doors for you at the NWDA, I have all the contacts you need? Is that what he means by little black book.
It is alleged that he was a failed politition some time ago in Lancashire which is how he arrived in Liverpool, and it seems that most people have forgotten the details of his past foray into the political arena.
How well does he know the "Dame of Dereliction" Louise Ellman?
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/louise-ellman-why-wont-you-answer.html
She was once on the board of Liverpool Vision, and was it the NWDA that Mike Storey and Baron Wadley were making all the committee decisions for.
Jaguar wheels within Jaguar Wheels you may say. There is talk he wants to become Mayor of Liverpool...Cue the Boris Johnson Wig.


Here is one he did earlier this time its...... DLIB in a skip.
How did that get there?
"We will make you an offer you cant refuse", What does that mean? Now he's the Godfather, Al Pacino.....God 'elp us.
How does he get away with this nonesense
Why is his organisation allowed a page a week in the Daily Ghost. Oh he pays them.
This organisation is set up to persuade politicians that its right for the likes of clients of theirs such as Iliad to run riot in the city smacking fronts off the likes of properties in 6 Sir Thomas Street right in front of the council leaders office.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/heres-one-they-did-earlier.html

DLIB also represents alot of reputable hardworking businesses. Its just funny they allow him to represent them in such a manner.
Is it not time that the writing between the lines was actually read.

Meet The Fockers

When you look at Old Photos of Liverpool and see the way the magical number of three plays out in aesthetic terms it is not hard to see that Liverpools architectural forebears were leaving us a gem.
The way the prominence of the trio with is mix of classicism mould the dominence of the skyline. There is no co-incidence that the pride would shine and we would affectionately term them "The Three Graces" after Canovas masterpiece. It was with this inspiration that no-one less than Giles Gilbert Scott or Lutyens would be allowed to shape our future with monuments on our skyline. Charles Reilly and the Liverpool School of architecture (the first in the country) set about to make us the Athens of the North. Below is an image from the front cover of Quentin Hughes book Liverpool City of Architecture.
It is no coincidence that he placed this image on the forefront of his deliberation of Liverpool.
Quentin taught at Liverpool and was instrumental in helping save the Albert Dock from being demolished in the early 80s. He wrote Seaport the first book that took its hat off to Liverpool that said look what we have got here. He was incensed with what they were doing to Mann Island. We sat long and hard talking about the new dawn and the lack of quality being proposed.


We had it all and through all the dark days of Liverpool's decline we had our pride our beautiful views our mementos of the past showing us what could be created if Liverpudlians put their mind to it.

I grew up with people who hated the Germans for what they did to us. They blitzed the gubbings out of the city sending incendiary bombs from Hienkels. I played war games in the bombdies, (yes a strange name but they were everywhere). In the 60s there were derelict street after street that had been blitzed by Dorniers and Messerschmidts it was desolate it was barren and it was bleak. But we got through it even though the Derek Hatton regime did much damage to Clayton Square in the 80s. We still had our Waterfront.
The spirit of Liverpool could not be broken. There was a German kid at our school he got the blame for it all, such was the hatred of what the Focker Wolf's and the Stuka divebombers did to this country. They still find the odd unexploded bomb now.

I remember standing on the Kop for a European match, (I learnt my geography from who we played in Europe) and during the Borussia Moenchengladbach game a banner was unfurled "We'll beat you 'cos you bombed our chippy". I laughed, the whole crowd did, It was so funny. It was also a watershed moment where we learnt to talk about it and laugh.

Now, I am not prejudice to anyone.

But the Fockers are back, this time buying the land they missed 60 years ago, how times change.

They couldn't destroy our waterfront so now they are buying it. Funding Mann Island, the worst most ugly sister of the three. Destroying the skyline all over again. 'Where's me helmet'. Merseytravel are moving into this carbuncle building. Will the Germans find out that Neil Scalectric cut the U-boat 534 into five bits.

Was he worried they may want to use it again so he scuppered it? How come they couldn't find any money for the historic warship collection? How come the NWDA can fund an office block with government funds when its being taken over by the Germans?

http://www.ldpbusiness.co.uk/liverpool-news/liverpool-business-news/2009/06/09/german-firm-buys-lease-on-47m-office-scheme-96026-23820602/

Mann Island.... The Germans got the Rowse Ventilating Shaft, The Albert Dock, India Buildings, The White Star line, Lewis's, half the docks and they are back buying what they missed and it is being funded by the NWDA.

We had it all, We had an Iconic skyline.

Never..... have so many.... been let down by so few.

Mann Island-A Tale of Two Cities.

Here we go with the ongoing destruction of Liverpool's World Heritage Site.
The Three Ugly Sisters were bailed out by the NWDA, I thought this was a viable business deal not a publicly funded show.
The land at Mann Island was given to Neptune already subsidised from the public purse. It was too cheap in my opinion and lacked credible scrutiny.
The money from this land sale then has funded the New Museum.
The Bail out deal that was done was to bring Merseytravel into the third and most ugly building of the trio...not yet built, yes it will be even worse than the image adjacent.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/mann-island-bail-out.html
Neil Scales of Merseytravel is a bit of a one having cut the historic U-Boat at Woodside into five, that was rescued from the bottom of a freezing sea and brought here by campaigners. He seems to meddle with everything. And get it wrong.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/03/11/nazi-u-boat-sails-to-final-resting-place-in-wirral-64375-20602463/
Right next to Mann Island on the other corner of the Strand and James Street ( to take both picures I did not move) is the White Star Building laying empty and falling into decay. Erected in 1898. It was designed by Norman Shaw with Francis J Doyle and like Scotland Yard is striped with bands of brick.




A tale of Two Cities where one listed building lays empty and government money sponsors leaving it empty by funding the building of another right next to it.

This was the headquarters of White Star and when the Titanic, registered in Liverpool, was sunk thousands waited outside for news of their relatives and loved ones.
Those tragic events unfolded as part of our historic fabric.
Right next to this building in James Street Merseytravel run James Street Station.

What fate will now befall this handsome building while boring boxes get built all around it.
Should the encouragement be to look after our historic fabric not walk past it while it decays.
The left side just off camera is the only New York Style cast iron gravity fire escape I know of in the city.