They Have Knocked The Everyman Down, How Stupid Can you Get-Richard Hawley.

At a concert on Monday the 25th February at the sold out Philharmonic Hall.  Richard Hawley made some time during his encore to voice his concern about the Everyman  tragedy that has happened right under the noses of the Liverpool public..

"Listen", he said, in his subtle deadpan Sheffield tone.
 "Going off on a tangent, I cant believe they have knocked The Everyman Down",  The crowd was already talkative, "Oh they are going to rebuild it", he laughed
"So What was wrong with it in the first place could someone answer that question it was a legendary institution..........F.ck Em"

He has a point what a stupid thing to do.

Frank McKenna Files-No 1

Here is the beginning of a new series
The Frank McKenna Files.
Taken, from Lets be Frank's, infamous exploits of past days and as noted in Private Eye.
We start today with issue 986 1st October 1999.
Watch this space for more interesting instalments.

You see, we consider that Downtown Liverpool In Business is a scurrilous organisation that has an overreach its powers, well tenfold in fact and should not have been allowed to do so.

Click on the picture LANCS A LOT.

Downtown Liverpool sponsored a page at The Liverpool Daily Ghost and sponsors thier views and blogs, thus being almost sanctioned by them.

Here is one we did earlier well 2009 actually http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/is-frank-mckenna-really-editing.html

And 2010 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/frank-mckenna-unofficial-editor-of.html

Peel Holdings Pillorised by Salford Residents. Are You Listening Mayor Anderson.

Are they the worst most unscrupulous developer that we have ever encountered?  http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=1688 Draining the public purse. Are they Government Grant farmers?
Peel Holdings have got Liverpool put on the Unesco World Heritage "In Danger" List. What a shower of arrogant bastards http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/peel-holdings-arrogant-bastards.html they are
But we are not alone,  all over the North West the Peel Organisation are trying to get away with whatever they want...............and they are supported by Louise Ellman who may remember them from her Lancashire County Council days that I am sure she would like to forget.
PEEL HOLDINGS WORSLEY PLANS SLAMMED BY SALFORD RESIDENTS

http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=1681
Star date: 5th February 2013
OVER 600 RESIDENTS VOICE OPPOSITION TO PEEL'S GREENFIELD HOUSING PLANS
Last night, over six hundred residents met to unanimously oppose plans by Peel Holdings and Taylor Wimpey to build hundreds of houses on greenfield sites in and around Worsley, Roe Green, Ellenbrook and Boothstown.
A steering group has been set up and people are being urged to join the campaign to fight planning applications which are expected in the immediate future…
A hint of what was to come appeared last April when a Habitat Appraisal of areas around Worsley was commissioned by Peel Holdings. The study, by Ecological Services Ltd and listing an array of stunning fauna and flora, concluded that "The marketing of 'an excellent network of footpaths and variety of wildlife habitats on your doorstep' would surely appeal to many home buyers'.

The survey didn't state whether building hundreds of homes on the local greenfield sites would harm, and maybe destroy, the `variety of wildlife habitats on your doorstep'.
After the Planning Inspector basically told Salford Council to tear up its Core Strategy which protected much of the city's green belt and greenfield sites (see here), and armed with ConDem Government's free for all National Planning Policy Framework, developers are literally having a field day.
Peel Holdings and developer Taylor Wimpey are planning to build over five hundred houses either side of Worsley Road (Broadoak North and South) in what Wimpey calls its `Garden City' concept. Elsewhere, according to campaigners, there are plans afoot for…
…140 houses off Vicars Hall Lane/Highclove Lane, 19 houses on Greylag Crescent, Ellenbrook, 23 houses Simpson Grove, Boothstown, 50 houses off Lumber Lane, Roe Green, up to 200 houses Crossfield Drive, Worsley, 450 houses at Hazelhurst, Worsley, 18 units on Boothstown canal basin, 15 houses off Mesne Lea Road, Worsley, and 60 houses behind Roe Green Cric. Peel Holdings' fingers are in the financial pie of most of the developments.
Last night over six hundred residents packed into St Marks Church, Worsley, to hear the plans and launch a campaign against destruction of greenfield sites. The meeting was called by local Tory councillors but also attended by Barbara Keeley, Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles South.
Community leaders, including Andrew Moore from WRAGE (Worsley Residents Against Greenfield Erosion), expressed their concerns about the developments, including increased traffic congestion, and the resulting air pollution, loss of green space and the impact on already overstretched schools.
A steering group is being set up and there was a request for people to come forward who have skills to help the campaign and launch a fund to fight the forthcoming planning applications.
Meanwhile, Taylor Wimpey are holding two sessions of consultation exhibitions on Thursday and Friday this week (7th and 8th February) at the Novotel Hotel on Worsley Brow. Residents are asked to attend to show their opposition to the Broadoak `Garden City' development.
For further information see http://www.broadoakworsley.co.uk/
For further information and news on the campaign see the Worsley Civic Trust website – click here
There is also a WRAGE facebook group which you have to apply to join – see here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/wrage/
The Battle Lines Are Drawn...
A first hand account of the meeting by resident and campaigner Steve Allington...
Several hundred braced the cold and wintry conditions last night to show their solidarity in uniting against the proposed development of 1,600 homes in and around the Worsley, Boothstown and Ellenbrook areas.
The main areas affected would be Worsley Road where up to 600 homes are planned adjacent to Bridgewater School and on the opposite side, effectively linking Worsley Village to Broadoak Park, Crossfield Drive where up to 200 homes are planned on farm land desecrating current woodland walks and 450 homes on green belt land off Hazelhurst Road.
However, not satisfied with concreting these areas Peel and Taylor Wimpey are proposing to put plans in to shoe horn 75 homes into Lumber Lane, Roe Green, and 60 houses behind Beesley Green community centre adjacent to the local cricket and tennis club.
Mention was also made by local councillors of the need to support residents of Irlam and Cadishead who face losing green belt land to 1,400 homes erected by the developers.
The vote in favour of a concentrated protest and challenge to the plans was passed unanimously and a steering group will now mobilise residents, councillors and local community groups to fight the plans.
The first act will be to storm the Novotel Worsley - when Peel Holdings unveil their planned build on Thursday 7th and Friday 8th February - and voice dissent.
Peel Holdings and Taylor Wimpey will be left in no doubt that they are not wanted.
Local residents fought off the threat of a racecourse in the village several years back and they are confident they can win this battle. Protesters voiced concern over lack of school places, traffic congestion, air quality, over burdening local NHS dental and GP practices as well as the impact it would have on conservation and leisure activities for Salford residents.
Exiting the meeting, resident Graeme Mooney complained about traffic congestion stating, "Each morning it takes me longer to get onto the motorway driving the 1 mile from my home in Roe Green to the grid locked Worsley roundabout than it does to then drive to my office in Warrington. Where the hell are these extra cars going to go? We have one of the busiest motorway intersections in the UK running through a tiny village".
Meanwhile, our schools are already over subscribed and these plans make no provision for more additional places. Who is going to buy the houses anyway? Worsley is already strewn with overpriced new builds at the Boatyard and Stableford that they can't sell now. Why do we need more?

"Worsley is one of the last tracts of green open space Salford is lucky to possess" said Roe Green resident Steve Rennie "Concreting over, what is a vital green lung of our city is something Peel and Taylor Wimpey should never be allowed to do..."

Heres one or two we did earlier.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/joe-anderson-spiving-for-peel-holdings.html Is Joe Anderson spiv-ing for Peel Holdings.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/peel-holdings-media-city-paid-for-by.html

The Scandanavian Hotel To Be......Student Digs.

Yes we need it done up and we welcome investment to any historic structure, but is that the best that can be done in a position right next to the Historic Black -E and the Chinese arch that was imported all the way from China. http://www.theblack-e.co.uk/


All this recent talk about Chinese Investment and what do Downing do, miss the boat and do the cheapest thing that is possible and turn a building that has been subject to endless speculation into a pad for students.


It’s the cheapest option that shows a lack of imagination.

This part of Liverpool is becoming a giant student flat.

241 flats in a building this size will they be the size of rabbit hutches. Where are apartments for families that will put something back into the area that just does not feed the booze economy
And will the commercial space in the planning application provide space for another bland Tesco style supermarket to feed them.

There is always the usual roof extension that always takes any historic building one step too far.

China Town is no longer the Chinatown that we used to know restaurants are struggling and moving.
All this Chinese interest in Liverpool and the oldest Chinese community in Europe could end up students-ville if we are not careful.


This is an opportunity missed Surely if it was a Scandinavian themed hotel it would be full on every Liverpool Home match day. (as nearly all the crowd is made up of Norwegians these days).

Planning applications no 13F/0157 and 0159 (what happened to 0158) also takes in the demolition of 8 & 8A Nelson Street and is submitted by Shed KM Ltd of 61 Bold Street on behalf of GMD Investments Ltd or in other words Downing of Myrtle Street.

Here is one we did earlier

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/scandanavian-hotel-shambles.html

Kings Waterfront Exhibition Centre and Hotel-More Boring Bland Boxes Next to the Albert Dock.

Today we reproduce a recent extract from Correspondent see Scriblings Jottings and Musings on the right hand roll of bloggers we trust.
Writing about the horrendous plans for Kings Dock Exhibition Centre, thrust on the public by Malcolm Kennedy and his willing lap dog Marc Waddington........where do they get these comedians from.
Here is one they did earlier. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cllr-malcolm-kennedy-spins-marc.html
And another http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/councillor-malcolm-kennedy-manipulating.html
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/peel-holdings-running-liverpool-city.html


What has Malcolm Kennedy actually done?


The awful plans look like they are done by a student and here is an extract from a recent email and guess what they are being touted by a graduate.

" You will no doubt be aware of the proposals to develop an Exhibition Centre and Hotel at the Kings Waterfront, to the south of ACC Liverpool.

As you have an interest in the adjoining land, we would like to invite you to come to our public consultation exhibition, which is being held on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th February at ACC Liverpool. This is a pre-application consultation to which members of the public and local residents and businesses are being invited. The details are included in the attached invitation. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information regarding the project or the event."

Kind Regards

Ian Ford

Graduate Planner

Monday, February 04, 2013


Metropolis On The Mersey



One can only surmise that Big Al Machray & his minions at the Oldham Echo saw the silent movie classic Metropolis some years back & decided that Fritz Lang's 1927 production ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j8Ba9rWhUg  ) should act as the blueprint for the city of Liverpool & its port in particular.

That's the only conclusion to be drawn from the fawning adoration bestowed by Oldham Hall Street on yet another plan to "transform" the Kings Dock (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2013/02/01/futuristic-masterplan-to-transform-liverpool-s-king-dock-revealed-100252-32722917/
 ). A fetish for a futuristic dystopia would normally be sufficient reason to consult a psychiatrist. In Big Al's case, however, it qualifies him to edit a paper whose capacity for self-delusion & denial would impress Saddam's former spin doctor, Comical Ali.

The Echo's piece has been penned by Marc Waddington, who enthuses:

"Up to 1,000 jobs could be created by the new masterplan for the waterfront area, which will include apartments, offices, hotels & leisure complexes."

Here we go again with Echo buzz phrases. "Up to" a thousand jobs, you say? So it could be considerably fewer than that. Going by previous instances, it would be sensible to view that phrase as, well, imaginative. Additionally, the use of "could" is a sure indication that Oldham Hall Street is doing its usual trick of whistling in the wind while the icy blast of a triple-dip recession, coupled with the cuts, freezes Merseyside more effectively than any meteorological factors.

Then there's the artist's impression of what the Kings Dock "could" (copyright Oldham Hall Street) look like, &, yes, it is truly hideous, a fact not lost on a few commenters. "BigEnd" (nice moniker) declares:

"This looks like the lovechild of the Malmaison Hotel and the new museum. With a dash of DNA from the ferry terminal. Please -- are there any architects out there with some sense of style? We deserve better than this."

Yes, BigEnd, we certainly do. Alas, we won't get it while the Oldham Echo champions such monstrosities.

Another commenter (Stewart f43) asks:

"Is it just me, or do these designs look like something out of Star Wars? 'Brutalist' isn't the expression for this -- try 'plain ugly'. Was nothing learned from the awful old Pier Head design?"

To which one must sadly reply that nothing will ever be learned by the latter-day Bourbons who hail such grotesque vanity projects as graceful adornments to the city's Botoxed waterfront.

So who is behind this plan that the Echo is keen to promote? Well, it's the work of the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA), whose chief executive Deborah McLaughlin is quoted in Waddington's piece. However, she cautions:

"No specific figure has been put on investment in the overall development plan, but it is likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds."

That's conveniently ambiguous, wouldn't you say? Moreover, it beggars belief to view the project itself as viable in the near to mid-term future when the economy is, at best becalmed in the ConDems' Doldrums, & any lending from the banks for infrastructure projects is a bit like Liverpool's chances of a Champions League place: nice in theory, but impossible in practice.

The role of messenger is crucial in cases such as this. As messenger, the Oldham Echo yet again shows a dispiriting willingness to publish what is effectively a puff-piece for HCA. The Echo is well-versed in promoting the interests of unaccountable, unelected business interests & their schemes to "regenerate" the region (do I hear the name Peel Holdings faintly in the distance?). That Waddington's article is a puff-piece is apparent from reading HCA's own blurb about the project (http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/news/plan-transform-kings-dock-liverpool ), the use of terms such as "transform" & "masterplan" eerily evident in the HCA piece as well as a suitably supportive quote from Cllr Malcolm Kennedy, the city council's cabinet member for regeneration. Cllr Kennedy has been vocal in his view that the "development" of the Lime Street area has been good for the city. Those with aesthetic taste would beg to differ.

The waterfront has been disfigured by supposedly grand projects which say more about the backers of such schemes than any PR blurbs could hope to obscure. Those schemes have veered between farce & wilful civic vandalism (http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/mann-island-has-structural-problems.html
& http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/unesco-state-of-conservation-report-1st.html

Fritz Lang's classic was supposed to act as a cautionary tale against the dangerous cocktail of hubris & technology; the apparent "progress" being merely a mirage. It's a lesson the civic goons, the Oldham Echo & the business interests they eagerly acclaim are destined to ignore.