Liverpool seeks CPO powers for Knowledge Quarter gateway

Liverpool City Council is to draw up a masterplan to create a city centre gateway for its Knowledge Quarter, focusing on providing a positive impact on Mount Pleasant, Brownlow Hill and Copperas Hill leading up to the £2bn innovation district.

The gateway aims to build on recent, ongoing and planned development of the Lime Street area, including the £40m mixed-use scheme currently onsite by Ion Developments, and the £13m redevelopment of the ABC cinema.

The council’s cabinet will meet on Friday to approve the development of a masterplan. Although it has declared its intention to make purchases by private negotiation where possible, it will seek “in principle” approval for the use of Compulsory Purchase powers within the gateway area.

The council is seeking to redevelop the Mount Pleasant car park as part of the proposal, it said. The other significant presence in the area is the Britannia Hotels-owned Adelphi Hotel, which sits at the heart of the gateway area, which is bound by Skelhorne Street to the north, and runs south along Lime Street and Renshaw Street as far as Upper Newington.

The site is bound to the west by Elliott Street and Great Charlotte Street and to the east by May Street and Ainsworth Street, skirting underneath the Copperas Hill sorting office.

The council said that the masterplan will be designed to reconnect areas fragmented by singular ownerships, and provide greater connectivity and mobility around Lime Street.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “KQ Liverpool is going to redefine this city’s future. The building blocks are now going in and this gateway is a critical step in ensuring the city centre is fully connected to the Knowledge Quarter. With the regeneration of Lime Street underway, we can now focus on developing this masterplan, setting out how this key scheme should look.”

The council said that any CPO required is likely to be funded by the developer of any proposed scheme, with the endorsement of any compulsory purchase subject of a future report to cabinet.

The triggering of the gateway masterplan follows the first successful planning application for Paddington Village within the Knowledge Quarter, covering a 13 storey live-learn base for Liverpool International College.

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, said: “These proposals are a vital next step in the regeneration of our thriving city centre, linking Lime Street Station to the city’s main concentration of science, health, education and cultural assets.

“Alongside the 30-acre Paddington Village site, this will create a world-leading innovation district.”

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Would be great for the city, I just hope the design and quality is up to spec for a ‘gateway’ development. Think Liverpool One rather than the black boxes at the waterfront!

By North Westerner

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