Liverpool Futurist Lime Street To Be Demolished By Stealth-Blame Joe Anderson.

Dodgy Liverpool City Council planning department.
 Rob Burns strikes again. 
He is the ignorant heritage and design manager appointed by a dodgy Mayor to ensure that no spokes are put in the wheels of development for Joe Andersons cronies.
 Neptune Developments are one of those "cosy" developers who have somehow managed to wangle their way into the council chamber and have privileged access to a Mayoral Development Fund that is being administrated in the most disgraceful manner.........Largely To Frank McKenna's mates.
We first highlighted this years ago.
When we questioned the way the Echo are in on it and bringing the attention to the public is what the developers and its dodgy PR company wanted...to create a debate. The time would have been best employed fighting to save the facade rather than the usual rabble rousing that they like to do. Misguided by a fool of an editor they print this headline after the cordon was placed around the old cinema a week ago, almost helping Joe Anderson and his cronies.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/david-bartlett-takes-city-council-to.html

Where are the surveyors reports where are the questions?
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/joe-anderson-defends-his-mates-at.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/lime-street-architectural-abortion-paul.html

Well Alastair Machray is only good at one thing and thats making staff redundant.
SAVE have done a good job here in trying to SAVE the Futurist.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/will-save-britains-heritage-get-lime.html

This will be a big regret if we lose the city scape and roof line of Lime Street and replace it with a load of shoe boxes that will become the tenement slums of the future.

Shame on You Joe Anderson You Dodgy Little Mayor.

Baltic Village-Jerry Built Architecture By Neptune Developments. Not Fit For Liverpools Historic Landscape

 There was a time when Liverpool had pride in its past, 
When it respected its heritage.
Not any more.
With a Mayor who has restructured the planning department to assist his property developing mates and aquaintances such as Frank McKenna of Downtown Liverpool.
Allowing Rob Burns to run riot with the planning department is a outrage in itself.
This man has been allowed to steamroller through some of the most awful sets of plans that we as a city will have to live with.

There are far too many who are still living in the past making, now silly comments about Liverpool's Wonderful Skyline being up there with the best in the world. 
The writer used to think so too.
 That's why we fought so hard to save it. 
But now it is a sad and forlorn shadow of itself and the public need to wake up to reality before any more damage is done.

 Liverpool is on the Unesco World Heritage In Danger List.
There were many objections when they built the Hotel Ibis overlooking the Albert Dock.
The writer was one.
 We said it was not fit for its location across the Strand from the biggest bulk of listed buildings in the country.
And they went ahead and built it.
This was a time when the biggest property developer in the area was the creepy Trevor Jones......and while his wife was chair of the planning committee.
 They both jointly owned Lamb & Sons the last ships chandlers in the city.
 Knocked down overnight to escape an appplication to list it.

Then Neptune Developments aquired the site and now Jerry build a couple of new blocks of student style flats that make the Formula One look like  outstanding architecture.
Its not just the style of construction it is the way they are being pre-fabbed.
They are knocked up out of pre-formed concrete panels with stick-a-brick decoration.

 They come on a lorry and then are craned into place.

They have incorporated a end block where the students can sit and look over the architectural abortion that Neptune also created at the Pier Head .......that helped get us in deep water with Unesco who are trying to advise the city that you just don't do this with a World Heritage Site. 


The world will laugh at you if you do. 
The only thing that is allowing the planners and the Mayor to assist his property developing mates is that the public don't really care and allow it all to happen without a fuss.




Where are SAVE Britains Heritage when you need them......well at least they are fighting.
The Lime street proposals......also put forward by the Jerry builders Neptune Developments

SAVE Lose Legal Fight Over Lime Street Plans.

In a judgement handed down today (Friday, 15 January 2016), The Honourable Mrs Justin Patterson has dismissed the substantive application for a judicial review made by SAVE Britain's Heritage on the grounds that Liverpool City Council had failed to notify the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in breach of planning guidance.

Judge Patterson rejected the claim because Historic England was consulted and did not raise any objections, nor request the scheme be called in for scrutiny by communities secretary Greg Clark.

She described the evidence provided by the council at the hearing in December 2015 as "impressive and clear", concluding that the local authority had properly considered whether the scheme would have an impact on the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site.

Judge Patterson also noted that it would cause "considerable problems" for the World Heritage Committee, which only meets once a year, if it had to consider all planning applications that could have an effect on the outstanding universal value of World Heritage Sites.

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said: "We were confident that we had properly and rigorously considered this application following all of the relevant government guidance, and it is pleasing that the High Court has come to the same conclusion.

"Lime Street is a key gateway route in the city centre that is in desperate need of investment and upgrading. The scheme went through a very rigorous evaluation before being approved.

So is it all over when the fat man sings.

Steve Parry, managing director of Neptune Developments, said: "We are pleased that the High Court has ratified the local planning decision and found that it was made in an entirely appropriate and thorough way.

"Lime Street urgently needs this project to happen. There has already been a cost associated with a delay that has impacted on the project's financial viability.

"On a positive note we have exchanged with a major fund before Christmas and can now hopefully get on with early demolition and delivery of a new vision for Lime Street." 

What a misguided individual.

Is Joe Anderson the biggest threat to Liverpool, Heritage since Herman Goering and the Luftwaffe?...............You also have to ask where was SAVE Britains Heritage when the real battle to SAVE Liverpool's World Heritage was being fought???????

Joe Anderson Defends His Mates At Neptune Developments Lime Street Plans-But Does He Have The Intellect To Understand Them?

Having a Thickhead for a Mayor is always going to be difficult where our heritage is concerned. Neptune Developments Director used to work for the city council planning department. NEPTUNE ARE THE VANDALS WHO DESTROYED MANN ISLAND WITH THE THREE BLACK COFFINS.Neptunes PR company Archetype Studios who were Aurora Media and October Communications were PR for the fat mans Mayoral campaign. Isn't that a co-incidence or three
So it is no wonder he is in the paper today speaking up for the plans for Lime Street that are an architectural mess.SAVE Britains Heritage are quoting the world heritage site...........better late than never........(where were they when we were being put on the Unesco World Heritage In Danger List)...lets hope they can persuade "Joe Must Go" Anderson that he is talking out of his big backside and there are more important things than looking after his mates when Liverpools Heritage is concerned. 
IS JOE ANDERSON A TORY?
PREVIOUSLYWill SAVE Britains Heritage Get Lime Street Plans Called In?-We Hope So.

Describing the proposals as “oversized student accommodation and shopping units of bland design”, SAVE have condemned the move to knock down historic buildings like the Futurist to make way for the scheme.

Director Clem Cecil said: “Lime Street is quintessentially Liverpudlian in its great variety and charm. It is in the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site, a status to be proud of. Liverpool is a truly great city: these new plans are not worthy of it.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/heritage-group-calls-government-investigate-9840643

“As gateway to the city, Lime Street desperately needs repair. As stipulated in the WHS guidelines, it is a matter of working with the historic grain of the street rather than against it. We will be calling on the Secretary of State to intervene to allow the best design solution for this important site.”

The planning application, submitted by Regeneration Liverpool and developers Neptune, was opposed by heritage groups concerned at the loss of buildings including the Futurist cinema, built in 1912.

Experts say the site is in such poor condition it cannot be saved, with local campaign group Save the Futurist accepting this with a “heavy heart” ahead of the planning committee’s decision.

Neptune have committed to working with Save the Futurist to ensure the new-look street celebrates Lime Street’s cinematic past - with panels etched with designs to mark this among their plans.

While their argument does not focus only on the Futurist, SAVE believe the building should be repaired instead of being replaced. President Marcus Binney said: “The years before the First World War were a golden age of architecture in Liverpool.

“This section of Lime Street leading directly into the World Heritage site is especially rich with the riotously ornate Vines Pub of 1907 and grandly baroque Futurist Cinema. Built as the City Picture House in 1912 this is the incunabula of Cinema Architecture and must be saved.”

SAVE are requesting the call-in because they believe the site is of national and international significance, the proposals conflict with planning policies, they will have significant effects beyond their immediate locality and raise architectural and urban design issues.
http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

If a planning application is called-in it leads to a public inquiry. Recommendations over the plans are then made to the Secretary of State, who takes the final decision.

The Lime Street plans include a 101-room hotel and 412 student accommodation complex. Neptune revised the plans after critical feedback of its original designs, with Joe Anderson praising the new-look proposal and suggesting it would have a “vibrant and exciting” impact on the area.

Further Reading

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/lime-street-architectural-abortion-paul.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/save-futurist-from-neptune-developments.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/call-this-regeneration-liverpool-lime.html

Will SAVE Britains Heritage Get Lime Street Plans Called In?-We Hope So.

Describing the proposals as “oversized student accommodation and shopping units of bland design”, SAVE have condemned the move to knock down historic buildings like the Futurist to make way for the scheme.

Director Clem Cecil said: “Lime Street is quintessentially Liverpudlian in its great variety and charm. It is in the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site, a status to be proud of. Liverpool is a truly great city: these new plans are not worthy of it.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/heritage-group-calls-government-investigate-9840643

“As gateway to the city, Lime Street desperately needs repair. As stipulated in the WHS guidelines, it is a matter of working with the historic grain of the street rather than against it. We will be calling on the Secretary of State to intervene to allow the best design solution for this important site.”

The planning application, submitted by Regeneration Liverpool and developers Neptune, was opposed by heritage groups concerned at the loss of buildings including the Futurist cinema, built in 1912.

Experts say the site is in such poor condition it cannot be saved, with local campaign group Save the Futurist accepting this with a “heavy heart” ahead of the planning committee’s decision.

Neptune have committed to working with Save the Futurist to ensure the new-look street celebrates Lime Street’s cinematic past - with panels etched with designs to mark this among their plans.

While their argument does not focus only on the Futurist, SAVE believe the building should be repaired instead of being replaced. President Marcus Binney said: “The years before the First World War were a golden age of architecture in Liverpool.

“This section of Lime Street leading directly into the World Heritage site is especially rich with the riotously ornate Vines Pub of 1907 and grandly baroque Futurist Cinema. Built as the City Picture House in 1912 this is the incunabula of Cinema Architecture and must be saved.”

SAVE are requesting the call-in because they believe the site is of national and international significance, the proposals conflict with planning policies, they will have significant effects beyond their immediate locality and raise architectural and urban design issues.
http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

If a planning application is called-in it leads to a public inquiry. Recommendations over the plans are then made to the Secretary of State, who takes the final decision.

The Lime Street plans include a 101-room hotel and 412 student accommodation complex. Neptune revised the plans after critical feedback of its original designs, with Joe Anderson praising the new-look proposal and suggesting it would have a “vibrant and exciting” impact on the area.

Further Reading

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/lime-street-architectural-abortion-paul.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/save-futurist-from-neptune-developments.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/call-this-regeneration-liverpool-lime.html

Lime Street Plans Passed-Spiv Anderson says "Its Great News"

 Only in Liverpool could a set of plans that would destroy a whole cityscape be passed and the Mayor says thats great.
Spiv Anderson is not the most educated of people in the manners of architecture but even he cant be that thick. It is an architectural abortion.
WE DONT TRUST THE SAVE THE FUTURIST CAMPAIGN who capitulated and then said these plans were alright.
Were they orchestrated by Jon Egan and Archetype Studios, the shady backroom PR for Neptune Developments. Who worked for Joe Anderson in his Mayoral campaign.We think so.
Why did the developers allow them to put a placard up?
 To cause more controversy because they want controversy. Controversy equals public funding for Neptune.
There will be a bit of grant farming going on here for sure. A FOI will find out how much public money will go into destroying a whole street Yes we know it wants developing but not with this rubbish. Dont forget the Grapes and the Vines bookend this street and there are several listed buildings in the vicinity.
Is it also true that one of Neptune Developments directors used to work for the Liverpool City planning disgracement. Neptune are the vandals that built the Mann Island black coffins lets not forget the mess they have made of the city.
How many city scapes are going to be ruined by inadequate planning tht is told what to do by spivs looking after their mates.

This is a sad day for Liverpool a World Heritage Site.

Littlewoods Edge Lane-Rotting Away, This Building Needs Help.

Private Eye's 'Piloti' again takes an interest in the forlorn hope that is The Littlewoods Building Edge Lane.
SAVE Britain's Heritage chip in with what they are good at saying
"Government Agencies need to show Liverpools Commercial Heritage its proper respect and we call on Eric Pickles to insist his HCA civil servants guarantee this majestic buildings future".

While Joe Anderson and his press office The Liverpeel Daily Post & Echo are telling everyone how wonderful it will be to lose the WHS by building over the Central Docks they have forgotten there is a need to quantify what we are allowing to rot in this city. Why not create jobs in Edge Lane.

The press did take an interest in this building when Wayne saved it from demolition by getting assurances from the then Council leader and committee member of the NWDA Mike Storey.
The NWDA then bought it.
 Wayne made an application to have it listed and Marcus Binney of SAVE added his weight to the need to list it. The c20society also supported this application.
But there it is rotting.
It should have been the new Museum of Liverpool and that would have regenerated the area but it was too important an issue to Mike Storey that he was hellbent on destroying the unique character of Liverpool's World Heritage Site that he ignored Wayne plea.


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/there-was-scheme-to-relocate-school-in.html
There was talk of making it into a school.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/littlewoods-edge-lane.html

Liverpool's Regeneration Game
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/liverpools-regeneration-game.html

Urban Splash claimed they saved it.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/urban-splashare-they-drowning-in-debt.html

21 Madryn Street-The House That SAVE Britains Heritage, Have, Foolishly, Bought.

"They don't make them like they used to" was a saying I used to hear from workers all the time.
"Thank God I used to say some old houses are only good for the bulldozers".
It takes someone who has restored property to make a statement like that, not some middle class mummy's boy with a silver spoon hanging out of their chin.
Who think they understand architecture because they have read about it in a book, or because some dimwit who has manoeuvred themselves into a position with the local Civic Society says so.
There is an old saying "Any fool can write a book, but it takes a man to hang a door"
I prescribe to this line of thought.

This building click on the pic to enlarge 21 Madryn Street has been bought by SAVE Britains Heritage to waste our taxpayers money on fighting for its ownership so they can claim to be the saviours of society and show the city council, who are twassers, up.
So lets look at it.
It has to be the worst piece of architecture I have seen and having restored over a hundred buildings and surveyed many, many others I think I have an idea what I am talking about.
I didn't read about architecture in a book because I was born with a shovel in my mouth that someone said "there you go, there's your start in life go and dig yourself a hole".
There was no middle class upbringing for me. I just tell it straight because I can hang a door and put on a roof and I mean build one not just slate it, and plumb a house though that's only a semi skilled job.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html
I was there when the Toxteth Riots were on working in the area, restoring properties for poor people to live in....because we had nothing else to offer in Toxteth.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/louise-ellman-mp-dame-of-dereliction.html

This has to be the most godawful house I have ever seen it has been rebuilt with rubbish cheap brick in the 70s. It has lost all of its windows and even has a precast concrete lintel instead of its original brick arch and its front door..........it is a dog. There is no other way to describe it.

Hey but SAVE Britains Heritage have bought it......clever people those SAVE bods.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html

Whats more they claim to have someone living there there should be laws against this in the 21st century isnt Rackman dead. http://www.21madrynstreet.blogspot.com/
Wayne

The Lyceum Bold Street Liverpool-How Can They Do This To Our Grand Old Lady.

Yes its a Whopper alright. A ten foot giant Burger King Hamburger.
The sort of tacky advertising that is now all too familiar in Liverpool. There is nobody to police it and in it creeps.
 So everywhere looks the same as everywhere else.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw it yesterday stuck on to a tinny looking building as part of Central Station just over the way from Clayton Square, remember that area that the Hatton administration allowed to be built,even though it meant knocking down an area of historical importance, a Georgian area of intimate design which had been part of our history. It was alleged that Derek Hatton was also acting as a consultant for the builders of Clayton Square. There were things everyone in Liverpool alleged except the local press. The Sunday Times ultimately did a big expose on him and his business interests while the Daily Ghost reported, what they, said, and some time later. Somethings never change down at Oldham Hall Street. Now the City Council call developers stakeholder partners and run off in a lovers embrace with the purveyors of out of town shopping arcades who want to trash the World Heritage Site.

Joe Anderson should learn a lesson from history.

So here I am standing at the corner of Bold Street looking at the building that Marcus Binney of SAVE Britains Heritage claims as one of their greatest successes. http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/  

Anthony Quinn, originally from Liverpool who wrote his book, The Rescue Man about the changing face of Liverpool during the Blitz, and how a rescue man, a firefighter lamented the loss.

He also told me how he was inspired by how sad he felt when he saw the disaster that was Casey Street being bulldozed.

" It was just there one day and then gone the next".

It was a Conservation area, that didn't stop the City Council trashing it overnight.

 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/triumph-disaster-and-decay-milkandsugar-liverpool-1630252.html

So what of a listed building such as the Lyceum and its Whopper.

 My understanding is that anything that affects the setting of a listed building needs a planning application.

So is it alright to put a giant Whopper next to one, well it seems so in Liverpool. A historical Neo Classical one by Thomas Harrison of Chester.

Marcus Binney and those at SAVE should work a little harder to really, SAVE what they have, well SAVED  really.

Its alright coming here, with their eccentrics such as Evelyn Cook of the Nemesis Republic blog in tow, doing glossy exhibitions with expensive catalogues. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/triumph-disaster-and-decay-milkandsugar-liverpool-1630252.html 

But what about the Whopper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lyceum,_Liverpool

I wrote about the way the planners had passed plans top carbuncle-ise the Lyceum, does anyone care. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/now-lyceum-of-bold-street-is-to-gets.html

Least of all Steve "Ronnie" Corbet of Liverpool's joke of a Conservation office.

So sometimes I feel like I am just wasting my time.

SAVE Get A Stop Notice On Welsh Street Demolitions.

Save Britain’s Heritage has scored a major victory, it is claimed, in its campaign to keep the Pathfinder bulldozers out of Liverpool after communities secretary Eric Pickles issued a stop notice

The dramatic move – which forbids demolition without his express permission – came hours before the city’s planning committee was due to meet.
Defiant councillors went ahead and voted unanimously to approve the plans to raze the six streets of Victorian terrace houses known as the Welsh Streets.
But work, planned to start on May 17, will have to wait until Pickles has decided whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required prior to demolition. He has now done so.
Liverpool Council previously ruled that an assessment was not necessary but, after lobbying by Save, Pickles is now questioning this decision.
In a separate development, Save has also bought a house in one of the threatened streets.
Number 21 Madryn Street, a few doors from the childhood home of Ringo Starr, will become the centre of the preservation campaign.
The neighbourhood, named after the Welsh migrants who built it and first lived there, has been under threat of demolition for 10 years as one of the government’s Pathfinder housing market renewal initiatives.
A study by architect Mark Hines for Save last year showed two-up-two-down houses could be adapted for the demands of modern families.
But Liverpool Council leader and cabinet member for housing Joe Anderson said: “I pledged last year that if a developer came forward with a viable proposal to retain the Welsh Streets then we would look seriously at their plans. I am sorry to say that this has not happened.”
He was writing to Pickles to urge him to make a quick decision on the EIA so the council can “crack on and push ahead with the badly needed regeneration of this area”.

So where does this now leave the Welsh Streets. The house that SAVE have bought is really not worth saving it is a house that has had its facade rebuilt in brown brick totally at odds with the area.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/welsh-presbyterian-chapel-demolished-by.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/welsh-streets-save-britains-heritage.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-us-from-save-britains-heritage.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/03/liverpool-pathfinders-left-high-and-dry.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/save-exhibition.html

Welsh Presbyterian Chapel-Demolished by Morons.

They said they had demolish it because it wanted £60,000 worth of repairs............but it cost, how much to demolish? This building fronted to Penny Lane and was a landmark.

We tried to have listed but the English Heretics said no, preferring to let it be bulldozed instead. Click on the link below to see a picture of it before it was battered down with a bulldozer.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/05/welsh-presbyterian-chapel-heathfield.html

IF IT WAS ALL THAT SIMPLE http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3076478

Church sued for £600k because some deal was going on under the pulpit.


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/joe-anderson-to-save-liverpools.html

I recall getting a letter from the Doctor of..........what.
It looked to me it was an American doctorate.
 I know someone else who bought an American Unirversity Doctorate off the shelf for 750 quid, you know the ones that cant be confirmed and turned they into a spiv.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/05/20/landmark-south-liverpool-welsh-chapel-to-be-demolished-after-more-than-80-years-92534-28728407/ 
Church minister Dr Ben Rees said: “It will be a shame, but it was something which had to be done.
The Daily Post proclaimed giving the..........err, Doctor a let off with the vandalism, that now lines itself up to be a car park for Tesco that have just opened up on Allerton Road, and the store backs on to the now empty site.  I did not see any action from SAVE or the other Welsh Street protestors though. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-us-from-save-britains-heritage.html

The Welsh Streets -SAVE Britains Heritage Give Thier View

From Will Palin at SAVE

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-us-from-save-britains-heritage.html
Hi Wayne,

Wayne, disappointing that you've swallowed the LCC spin on the Welsh Streets - I thought you'd be more perceptive. You've played straight into the hands of a council which has perfected the divide and rule tactic. In the Welsh Streets the council has either trampled on residents or used them as pawns in their political games by promising smart new homes - which elsewhere have not materialised - and blaming those wanting to stay for the delays.As Salford Star says, Pathfinder is a 'rip off process'. On average, home owners lose £35k equity when rehoused. And that's quite apart from the affects of being uprooted from home and seeing your community
broken up and dispersed.
We are not 'slowing down' the process. LCC has had 10 years to come up with revelopment plans for the Welsh Streets but has produced nothing. All we are slowing down is the demolition of 400 decent, repairable houses and the grassing over of the site. Look at dozens of other cleared sites in the Toxteth area. Where is the new housing? Could it be that the developers are no longer interested - even though they'll be getting the land for next to nothing? Surely not?And we are not 'buying up houses to have them CPO'd' we are buying a house which we intend to refurbish in an attempt to demonstrate how, with modest outlay, some life and dignity can be restored to a shamefully neglected street which 6 years ago people wanted to live in. We hope this will draw national attention to the scandal of the Welsh Streets and eventually lead to the retention and renovation of all the surviving housing stock.Perhaps you should be asking on your blog why 'a city besieged by massive public sector cuts' has been paying a consultant £182k a year for to advise on the Welsh Streets - http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/02/18/consultant-paid-more-than-182k-for-liverpool-s-welsh-streets-work-92534-28191659/  Or why the heads of its HMR-colluding Housing Associations are (all?) paid in excess of £150k. They should be your targets, not us.Or perhaps you're too concerned with the 'glamorous' cases in the World Heritage Site and that you don't care the peripheries of the city. We are not playing games, Wayne, we are deadly serious.

As for your comments on Edge Lane. Yes, why bother objecting to the CPO of your life-long home - after all you'll just be slowing down a pointless 1960s-style road widening scheme and jeopardising the chance of a developer profiting from your misery?

William Palin

Secretary

SAVE Britain’s Heritage

70 Cowcross Street

London EC1M 6EJ

Tel: 020 7253 3500
Fax: 020 7253 3400

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

Save Us From SAVE Britains Heritage.

I attended the planning committee meeting of the 19th April and on the agenda was the demolition of phase one and two of the Welsh Streets.


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html
I previously wrote, and there is a real reason for keeping the heart of New Heartlands, but.........
The hotly contested Welsh Streets, but by who.

I have never before seen a situation where people who live in an area are supporters, declaring they want their houses knocked down..............and it helped change my mind, enough is enough.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html
Merseytravel once owned Ringos House.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/05/liverpools-joe-anderson-we-will-scrap.html Joe Anderson promised to save the demolitions....but
Now it transpires that SAVE Britain’s Heritage are mischievously trying to buy, off anyone, who will sell, any of the remaining properties in the Welsh Streets.
This will cost us hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal fees in a futile and silly plan to disrupt the process, while the area is 95% empty, already cleansed, yes we know it was all wrong, but who are we to argue with people who want decent housing.
http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/
The idea is to have all the houses around them knocked down and force the council to CPO the houses that they may have bought.
http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/news/campaign.php?id=192
What is the point?
I grew up in a similar house and some of the supporters of the demolition mirrored exactly how it felt for me till we were re-housed in the 60's from what was labelled a slum.

Now, I don’t like to give in on a fight but SAVE would be better placed buggering off back to London than wasting Liverpool ratepayer’s money on a lost cause to further their own public image of being heritage fighters.

Ringos house may have been worth fighting for I thought, but not any, more.
They at SAVE cannot buy Ringos house in Madryn Street because the city council own it. There was a point but it has now gone too far. It seems some people are so empowered to have their names in the paper, that it drives them on when they should stop and common sense come into play.

If Nina Edge and others wish to fight that's up to them it seems her house is a big house for the area, but why should others not have the right to move.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/ringos-house-9-madryn-street-david.html
They at SAVE may have done some good heritage battles and they pride themselves on being vociferous, but on this occasion they have misplaced ideals that need to be stopped.

Peter Brown of the Merseyside Civic Society was in attendance at the planning committee and the MCS have been supportive of Nina Edge, who it was claimed by supporters of the demolition, did not fully live in Kelvin Grove. They the MCS have also assisted the misguided attempts of Elizabeth Pascoe http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/05/vote-for-elizebeth-pascoe-god-elp-hurst.html who cost herself a fortune to save her house. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/09/whatever-happened-to-merseyside-civic.html There is one thing being classed as heroic as a way to make friends and influence people but at what point do you stop being tagged along by people from London who put on the occasional wine and cheese evening here in Liverpool and then go home.
I feel sorry for anyone losing their house. Joe Anderson said he would save the demolitions but it now seems he wont

Jonathan Brown seems to be able to motivate Peter Brown, oh, and Steve Parry of Neptune Developments, I couldn’t.
When he should have been fighting against world heritage blight he was supporting its developments. I will never be able to respect him again.

Where does the point come when all those around you have decided to sell and the place is an area full of rats and blight? It seems now.

So the idea of SAVE, if they can, as their charitable status is being checked to see if they can do it, is to buy up a few houses and let everything be knocked down around them. Hey clever!

While they go home to their middle class London Mews the people they are claiming to help are living in squalor. There is a chance that the development may stall but it is too far gone now I fear.


This is a misguided campaign by the eccentrics at SAVE and they should think carefully before they proceed in cajoling vulnerable sections of society. There is one thing putting on a glossy exhibition and producing a glossy booklet costing £14 about Liverpool’s lack of care with its heritage and genuinely helping people with their plight. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/save-exhibition.html

SAVE claims to have saved the Lyceum in Bold Street many decades ago, it was Florence Gersten http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/05/florence-gersten-life-spent-helping.html who did all the work. This is now under threat with blight about to happen all around it.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/now-lyceum-of-bold-street-is-to-gets.html
Far too close to Peter De Figeurido http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-polices-heritage-police.html they at SAVE are now art risk of becoming labelled heritage nutters, in fact there are a few there already.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/heritage-fruitcakes-from-bonkers-ville.html read some of the coments from SAVE members here http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/heritage-fruitcakes-from-bonkers-ville_19.html
or here,
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/heritage-fruitcakes-from-bonkers-ville_20.html
or eve here and there. Fruitcakes anonymous. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/heritage-fruitcakes-from-bonkers-ville_22.html

I do not take stating my opinion lightly in this instance despite some of their senior members being completely bonkers (see above links) and in my opinion verging on the edge of heritage madness, they have done some good work, but here they are looking like middle class twits playing heritage games that affect far too many people’s lives. Who should not be used in the arsenal of SAVE’s Heritage publicity machine.

SAVE Us from SAVE.

Liverpool Pathfinders-Left High And Dry

Yesterday I posted about how the Sunday Times journalist Olivier Shah reports on Liverpool without even visiting the city, she googled it. Though she mentioned the Liverpool Preservation Trust, that does not mean we have to have any respect for a pathetic piece of reporting entitled, Born Again Liverpool Dances to a Different Beat, and shows a picture of yesterdays man Paul McCartney, seems like the same old boring recycled shit to me.

As Correspondent points out its not only The Daily Ghost who recycle the same old nonsense.

http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/03/oldham-hall-streets-parallel-universe.html

While yesterdays front page at the Daily Ghost said how wonderful it is they are filming an advert for the Range Rover here, now it maybe is good news, but front page?

Its a tale of two cities in Oldham? Hall Street.  http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/ldpbusiness/business-local/2011/03/07/liverpool-to-star-in-global-range-rover-launch-92534-28289161/

Yesterday the BBC showed a report on the disastrous Pathfinders scheme on Merseyside where now the least able in society are left high and dry by mismanagement and dare I say Elizebeth Pascoes self effacing campaign to show herself as some sort of champion for the people.

 I have never subscribed to this or to all the complimentary gestures made by architectural mercenaries and bandwagon jumpers such as Trevor Skempton and the rest of them, including Jonathan Brown at the Merseyside Civic Society.

These areas need regeneration, a more careful approach was needed to care for the vulnerable section of society but work needed doing to create areas fit for living in todays age.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12662502

It was always going to be a mess with Warren"war zones" Bradley leading the way.

He drives his fire engine around Toxteth putting out fires.......with blinkers on to the plight of his fellow citizens.

While the middle class upstarts at SAVE Britain's Heritage do all they can to upset as many people as possible, and further their own publicity machine.

Click on the BBC report and SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THOSE TRAPPED IN THE QUAGMIRE OF GOVERNMENT BLUNDERING THAT WAS IMPLEMENTED BY A INEPT COUNCIL LEADER, THROW IN A FEW MIDDLE CLASS TWITS MASQUERADING AS URBAN WARRIORS AND IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A COCK UP.  

Liverpool Waters-Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dock.

Henry Owen-John, English Heretic, well known to these pages is at it again, playing around with Liverpool's Heritage. My opinion is he is now going through the motions on Liverpool waters.

Peel Holdings, it is said, is facing increasing pressure from English Heritage to make further changes to its plans for the £5.5billion Liverpool Waters regeneration scheme.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dock, playing the game to pretend he is doing his job, but behind closed doors?

Henry Owen-John, English Heretic

HE HAS DONE MORE DAMAGE THAN THE LUFTWAFFE.

pic Lancashire Economic Partnership

In the realms of the destruction of Liverpool’s Architectural History one name stands out above all others,that of Herman Goering.

He and the Luftwaffe saw to it that during the blitz we lost so many architectural masterpieces that they could never be replaced.

We were once The Athens of the North .

The Customs house by John Foster Jr seems to spring to mind when thinking in a solemn mood. Bombed and then knocked down to give work to people after the war. They didn't think to rebuild it to dole out work!!! 
Add another name that of HENRY OWEN-JOHN.

This is what the Architect Journal recently reported. http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/english-heritage-hits-out-at-55bn-liverpool-waters-scheme/8611903.article It may be paywalled so I have printed it.


In December last year the developer submitted plans, overseen by Chapman Taylor, to construct a series of skyscrapers in the city’s northern docklands, claiming the scheme would create more than 25,000 jobs and boast more than 14,000 apartments.
But Henry Owen-John, regional head of English Heritage (EH), said Peel had a ‘significant’ way to go to prove scheme would not damage the city’s World Heritage Site and warned that EH would fight the development if further concessions were not made.
Peel’s plans are already being considered by Liverpool City Council, and the company’s director of investment, Lindsey Ashworth, said last year that they were not prepared to make any more changes after already making substantial reductions to the size of the development.
Should EH lodge an objection and planning permission is granted, it is likely the scheme would be referred to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
Owen-John said English Heritage has commissioned an independent report into the potential impact of the scheme, and revealed that advisers from Unesco, which oversees World Heritage Sites, were also preparing a report on the project after being contacted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
In an exclusive interview with the Liverpool Daily Post, Owen-John said: ‘We fully support the principle of developing the area. Clearly it is a brownfield site at the moment which is inaccessible and there is real opportunity that could have enormous benefit for Liverpool widely and north Liverpool particularly.
‘I think we have come a long way in three years and we are appreciative of the changes that Peel have made. The scheme is now very significantly different, there were many more tall buildings.
‘The adjustments that have been made are clearly significant from Peel’s point. We feel, despite that, we are not quite there in being able to reach agreement with Peel.’

HE IS ABOUT TO SELL OUT AND CAVE IN. Weak will is his forte.
Hi ex buddy the disgusting ex historic building advisor Peter de Figueiredo is advising Peel.
There should be laws against this.
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/09/peter-de-figueiredo-opinion-for-hire.html


Listen to him, on the washed up Roger Philips BBC Radio Merseyside programme yesterday. He comes on about 35 minutes in and goes through the same old shit again, about, when they built the Liver Buildings there was controversy and Philips, who is waiting for his retirement, trying to be Devils Advocate, but now well and truly part of the establishment goes with him. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00f00q3/Roger_Phillips_02_03_2011/

Though I previously said they at English Heretics were against the scheme it is now clear Chief English Heretic, Owen John is now caving in, well he was never against it really, just appearing to be, and my prediction is will come to an arrangement with Peel and his mate, the opinion for hire, Peter de Figueiredo.

What is John Hinchliffe doing, as usual, nothing, his wages funded by the English Heretics.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/john-hinchliffe-liverpools-world.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/liverpool-waters-english-heritage-hold.html
What are the Victorian Society doing, what are the upper class twits at SAVE Britains Heritage doing.................Sod All. 

Update 30.9.2021

Liverpool has now lost its wWorld Heritage Site Status depite objecting to a new Stadium at Bramley Moore Dock they grant, secretly a immunity for listing to the historic Goodison Park. 

Orchestral manouvers in the dock.

Now the Lyceum of Bold Street is to Get a Carbuncle.

They did it with the Bluecoat  which now has a giant Novotel chimney sticking out of it and today they, the council planning committee have passed contemptious passed plans to do the same to The Lyceum one of the finest neo-classical buildings in Europe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lyceum,_Liverpool  . http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/liverpool-novatel-tragic-addition-to.html  
The Lyceum was saved by Florence Gersten (it must have been so hard for her to argue this one) with the help of SAVE Britains Heritage http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/  who did the exhibition, TRIUMPH DISASTER and DECAY http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/save-exhibition-now-showing-triumph.html  which I reviewed for The Georgian issue no 1/2009 . The saving of the Lyceum is hailed as one of the successes by Marcus Binney in fact a huge one in their entire existence. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/triumph-disaster-and-decay-milkandsugar-liverpool-1630252.html  It now will be despoiled with yet more planning blight courtesy of Liverpool City Council and its ill educated planning committee http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/liverpool-city-council-planning.html  led by the soon to retire permanently to Southport David Irving. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/05/david-irving-planning-chairman-caught.html  An ignorant man whilst Florence was giving a brilliant detailed speech of why it was important to protect the views he did not listen and sat there talking to Nigel Lee, our Chief Planning disaster. He brought in the developers friend John Bimbow of the planning dept who sold it to them. I don’t know how this planning official can sleep at night.
Parts of the plans were needed but again its one step forward and two back in this city.
After all the fuss about Lewis’s closing http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/lewiss-is-to-close-300-jobs-to-go.htm  it become evident through the course of the committee meeting that the developers never had any intention for a shop there.

Some Lyceum history.
http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/28/cold_dir/cold_s.htm
Originally the Lyceum was to be demolished outrage and a massive campaign ensued.
http://www.liverpoolmonuments.co.uk/buildings/lyceum01.html

See planning application and agenda for today’s meeting.
http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/Published/C00000307/M00009420/AI00062418/$item10.docA.ps.pdf

In the world heritage buffer zone the impact on views of the Anglican cathedral will be huge.
The English Heritics offered no comments.

David Bartlett from the Daily Ghost was there but with their lead today there is no chance of anything other than a thumbs up. Lets see if he notices anything about the iconic Lyceum to now be wrapped in plastic apartments 22 storeys high. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/02/23/liverpool-department-store-lewis-s-set-to-close-with-the-loss-of-300-jobs-92534-25893044/
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/02/23/grosvenor-sells-liverpool-george-henry-lee-and-tesco-buildings-for-20m-92534-25893046/ 
The Daily Ghost claims that the shoppers deserted Liverpool but with no chance of building a business the owners of Lewis’s store were left to go downmarket to survive. Its one step forward and one back.

LIVERPOOL It all came Tumbling Down

I still recall the first time I read Freddie O’Connor’s, It all came Tumbling Down. And 25 years later it still gets to me just what we have lost. Post 2008 it continues and won’t stop. I am not sure how or when it happens or how you feel a sense of loss watching old times that were tough and hard change and we roll into a plastacine characterless paradise lost that we are all suppose to be eternally grateful for.


It was about 20 years ago that I wandered into a derelict forlorn church ‘Our Lady’s’ on St Domingo Road and saw part of the rude screen on the floor the place was a wreck, pieces strewn all over the place. I had been born two streets away in poverty in a damp ridden rabbit hutch. A two up, two down. All around were bomb craters we called the debris. I played war in streets abandoned by owners because they were worthless. The industry was leaving and there was no work. No we don’t want to go back to that but it is something to say that there was character in the poverty, people were different, skills were abound. I remember the beautiful stain glass windows of that Church smashed to smithereens and I decided to rescue the wooden carved structure. I went to ask the priest who quickly said to me as I pleaded to take a childhood memory before it goes. “Do what you want mate, I am the Vicar and that’s a catholic church”. Well the old Irish rivalry still seemed to be there all those years later. We used to team out the football game Protestants against Catholics. I read in Freddie’s book 15 years later that it was a Pugin Church that was to the original Chancel Chapel to what was to be the biggest Cathedral in Christendom as it was on the peak of St Georges plateau and could be seen for miles. The site was abandoned for the current place and Lutyens was brought in and in turn he only got as far as the crypt and decades after the war we ended up with the Oscar Neimeyer copy by Gibbard instead. I really felt that I had saved something a little piece of history. I later found out there were three other Pugin Buildings in the same short space in between the Grade I listed St Georges to which was attached to our school with its old fashioned headmaster with his old fashioned values. They are all gone now and the poverty is still there only it is flimsy and character-less. Our Street is in Freddie O’Connor’s book a picture of the house I grew up in. It reminds me of how I lament the passing of a spirit, a link to the past. Because if you build on your past you keep the simple senses happy, those of security and pride and belonging… that’s what came tumbling down, and its still happening, when will it stop. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/save-exhibition.html

Littlewoods Edge Lane Still in Peril

The Daily Post is claiming Littlewood's on Edge Lane has been saved..... again!
This is strange this is one building we did a couple of hundred hours convincing the Council that this was worth saving. Then it was knocked out to Urban Splash and we were about to see the new tomorrow for Edge Lane....again... while instead they plan to build B&Q style sheds all over it.

English Heretic Mr Hawkins who refused to list it, said that the area should be made a conservation area. Mike "No More Than A Tory" Storey who was the Council leader at the time, was disgraced, and is now the Lord Mayor, is a schoolteacher, and was, at the time, on the board of the NWDA who owned it and he was also on the board of the Liverpool Land Development Company who were crawling all over this area just before it was handed over to Tom Floxham & Co.
Hawkins said to me he had to take into account the economic situation of the area and I made an official complaint against him as this is not EH remit.
This Conservation Area status, or listing, never happened......conveniently for those wishing to develop the area. This is all a couple of hundred yards from the Pathfinder area. http://www.edge-lane.com/
Now they want to make this into a school which may or may not be a good idea the editor of the Ghost thinks so, but what is alarming is that all the previous documentation to the plight of the area by the LPT does not come along with the current reporting and is not on the Ghost website, there was pages of it.
So a good "Storey" was had by all.
Private Eye reported our plight. SAVE and the C20th Society wrote to EH.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/education/education-news/2009/06/08/two-liverpool-schools-to-move-into-iconic-littlewoods-building-92534-23813547/
So the new dawn was announced before.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2007/10/24/developers-save-littlewoods-building-64375-19998780/
Credit Crunch his home.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/09/16/urban-splash-may-have-to-slash-up-to-half-280-strong-workforce-64375-21824319/

DID MIKE STOREY HAVE A "GAY" DAY?
Blame me for the rain I wished all week that it would hiss down on "Jackanorys" float but instead it leathered it down all over the city. Sorry about that.
DON'T RAIN ON MY PARADE.
I caught up with the Lord Mayors Parade in Church Street by default when I heard the band and then saw two giant green plastic Liver Turkeys walking down the street with two embarrassed people inside, faces going 'why did I volunteer for this'. Like two giant plastic chickens Tommy Cooper used as props with heads in, it was a embarrassment. Directly behind was the man himself looking like a Dickensian Character in a red coat and a dopping a trefoil hat. Some people will do anything for power. Its like watching a character from Sunset Boulavard, 'I was famous once, Ill be back'. He had just passed Reximillions office and there was no sign of him waving or joining in the celebrations. It seems they don't get on any more. The Parade went right along the outskirts of all the land Mike "Tory" Storey gave to the aristocracy his Dukeness of Grosvenor-pool. Onwards to all the land given away by the council to Beetham. Not far from the land the NWDA gave away to Neptune at the Pier Head. You know, this fella as council leader gave half of our city centre away. Berni Turner was nowhere to be seen either. It seems they dont get on anymore either. I wonder why? Storey had tried to get rid of the military from the parade, a mole at his office told, and they, at the Lord Mayors office even had to fight with him to retain what is a big calender event for raising canon fodder for the war in Iraq.
Anyway I was on to a 70th Birthday celebration for Philip Browning who edited the wonderful Buildings of Liverpool which was for a long time Liverpool's Architectural Bible.
I did not wish to hang around to see any more soggy crepe paper hanging off grim incarnations made from sqeezy bottles and toilet rolls at the Valerie Singleton school of decoration. Once the disguise falls down so you can see the milk float underneath and Ernie the milkman is sitting there fed up with a 300 decibel speaker on his head the funs over for me, so I carried on, as last year pathetic event was sad enough, and it was sunny.
Peter de Figeurido was on my table at the Atheneum lunch he or Trueheuz his partner never said a word. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/Peter%20de%20Figeurido
Though Graham Fisher of VicSox a man who has our admiration was there along with the architect David Backhouse and it is with many happy returns to Philip who was a town planner for LCC.