New Year confirmed for Edge Lane inquiry
The second public inquiry into a key section of the £350m regeneration of Liverpool's Edge Lane corridor is to take place in January 2008.
The hearing follows the earlier quashing of a Compulsory Purchase Order of 500 homes in the Edge Lane West development site in September 2006 following a campaign led by local campaigners. A High Court order earlier this year also stopped Liverpool City Council and English Partnerships demolishing a small number of vacant council properties on the site before a new CPO was secured.
The development site under scrutiny by the planning inspector forms part of a major programme of works along the whole length of the Edge Lane corridor from the M62 to Hall Lane and is led by Liverpool Land Development Company. Demolition of homes fronting Edge Lane West was seen as an essential part of the road-widening programme at a notorious traffic bottleneck in this key eastern gateway into the city.
A preliminary inquiry meeting is to take place on 11 October and the second inquiry will begin on 15 January at the University of Liverpool.
Whilst much of the redevelopment work, including improvements to the Rocket Junction, Edge Lane Central and Liverpool Digital business park, are in progress or nearing completion, the Edge Lane West site has been the subject of a host of legal challenges over the previous two years.
