Council plans to replace leafy car park with multi-storey
Liverpool City Council wants to spend £5m developing a multi-storey car park on the site of a tree-lined surface car park on Victoria Street in the city centre.
The new four-storey car park behind the council-owned Municipal Buildings would have around 250 spaces above ground floor commercial units.
A spokesman for the council said: “The proposal is designed to be a catalyst to the further regeneration of the Victoria Street area and would meet the demand of new hotels close to the site which do not have their own car parking, including the recently opened Hilton Doubletree on Sir Thomas Street.”
The council expects the new car park to generate a net revenue of £521,000 after borrowing costs, as well as income from a digital advertising screen and rent from retailers.
Under the plans, £3m from the Department for Transport’s Local Growth Fund would be used to improve the highways, public realm and pavements on Victoria Street.
Cllr Malcolm Kennedy, Cabinet member for regeneration, said: “This area of Victoria Street has been improved recently with the addition of new hotels and student accommodation and we know there is a demand for more car parking space.
“It also gives us an opportunity to invest in the roads and pavements on Victoria Street which are badly in need of improvement. This area is busy during the day and night and at the moment parts of the infrastructure look extremely tired and worn, so we would want to look at widening the pavements and creating more greenery.
“This scheme would also generate a significant amount of income which we badly need to offset the cuts from Central Government and can reinvest in other projects or services.”
The site was previously home to a large building called Government House which housed the city’s courtrooms as well as administrative offices for the council, but was destroyed by a bomb in the Second World War.
The scheme, which could be up to four storeys high, would be sensitively designed to fit in with the local surroundings, notably the council’s Municipal Buildings and take account of the listed Hilton Doubletree on Sir Thomas Street.
Subject to planning approval, the car park could open in time for Christmas 2017. A report about the proposal will be considered by the Cabinet on Friday 18 March.
Public realm improvements on Victoria Street are desparately needed. The aim should be to link the area with the St. George’s Quarter. The area is far too dominated by traffic and given the street is at the centre of the World Heritage Site it should be upgraded very sensitively with space for the café society to spread up from Castle Street. The car park really should not look like a car park and it should be fully screened by high quality buildings leaving plenty of room for replacement tree planting.
By Gwydion
Something tells me the site wont be tree lined by the time the carparks built
By Anonymous
Wider pavements the whole length of the street would make a huge difference though. You could really do something with the area between Stanley Street and North John Street in particular where the street’s at its widest and all the superb listed Victorian buildings are intact. They should aim for the same sense of space around the car park site.
By Gwydion
no the sunken car park is legend..!! lets not have another high rise here were there are tons of car parks; queen’s sq. morefeilds, Vernon st ect ect…..lets have a car park around the phil….parking up there is abysmal….!!
By andy bibby
No!
No!
No!
By Peter Gregory