MIPIM: Liverpool needs private sector to fill grant gap – Anderson
Liverpool is presenting potential investors with an £11bn portfolio of “oven-ready” sites at the international property conference, part of the city region’s strategy to bridge the funding gap left by Government cuts, said Mayor Joe Anderson.
There are 27 “major property opportunities” being showcased by Liverpool at MIPIM, which is taking place this week in Cannes. According to Anderson, £2bn of projects have started on site, £3.5bn have planning permission, and Liverpool Waters accounts for more than half of the total development value, at £5.5bn.
Speaking to Place North West, Anderson said that cuts to grant funding continued to be the biggest threat to the city’s growth.
“We have to spend any new income to prop up the drop in Government grant funding. We want to invest in new opportunities and skills, but instead have to use funds to fill in the grant gap,” he said.
“But it’s imperative that we grow our economy, which is why we’re here creating an environment for new investors.”
Further cuts to local government spending are expected in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget announcement on Wednesday, and Anderson said he was preparing himself for Liverpool to take another big hit.
“It is an ignorance by Whitehall in which it fails to understand the connect between austerity and growth. The growth in Liverpool and Manchester is happening in spite of what the Government is doing.
“The figures speak for themselves. Liverpool has some of the toughest challenges, is the most reliant on Government, but is getting the most cut.”
While hotels and student accommodation have dominated the Liverpool City Council planning agendas in recent years, Anderson said that it was “a myth” that Liverpool’s economy was largely city centre-focused, and dominated by leisure and tourism.
The list of sites which Liverpool is presenting at MIPIM includes Pall Mall, a proposed £200m office development which was first outlined in 2008, the £200m Knowledge Quarter which is a selection of sites in the east of the city around the university, and the £150m mixed-use Cains Brewery.
Anderson said that the list of sites drew on and moved beyond the Strategic Investment Framework announced for the city in 2012.
“A lot of sites within the investment framework are being developed out, and as the market changes, we’ve changed and adapted too.
“The SIF was always intended to be a living, breathing document, hence the new opportunities we’re outlining here.”
Key Liverpool sites promoted at MIPIM this week
King’s Dock
Location: King’s Waterfront, Liverpool City Centre
Type: Mixed use development focussing on leisure/entertainment, hotel, restaurants, water-based attractions and residential
Value: £30-50m
Site Size: 3.26 hectares
Planning Status: Existing planning framework under review; development partner to be sought
Adjacent occupiers: Liverpool Arena & Convention Centre, Exhibition Centre Liverpool, Pullman Hotel, Jury’s Inn
Pall Mall
Commercial District, Liverpool City Centre
Commercial-led mixed use development site
3.5 hectares with scope for 200,000 sq metres of office floorspace
£100-200m
Supplementary Planning Document agreed; development partner being sought
No occupiers
Stonebridge Cross & Stonebridge Business Park
Off East Lancashire Road, north-east Liverpool
Distribution warehousing, offices and light industrial
Various sites totalling 31.2 hectares
£60-70m
Permission granted for B1/B2/B8 on some of the sites
Adjacent occupiers: DPD Geopost, TJ Morris (Home Bargains)
Liverpool International Business Park
Speke, South Liverpool
B1 (offices), B2 (general industrial), B8 (distribution warehousing)
£30-40m
Various opportunities totalling 10.11 hectares
Outline permission for B1/B2/B8
Current occupiers: B&M, Johnson Controls
Knowledge Quarter
Liverpool City Centre, eastern zone
Educational/research led development
£100-200m+
Various sites totalling over 50 hectares; expansion space proposals underway
Adjacent occupiers: University of Liverpool
New Chinatown
Great George Street, Liverpool City Centre
Leisure, retail, business and live/work space
£200m
2.13 hectares
Outline permission granted
Future occupiers: Leisure and commercial businesses, residents
North Liverpool Atlantic Gateway
Off Great Howard Street (A565), North Liverpool
Mixed use zone with offices, light and general industry, retail trade counters, education and training facilities, hotels and residential.
£100m+
Various sites with an area totalling over 90 hectares
Masterplan for comprehensive redevelopment in preparation
Adjacent occupiers: Harcourt, Peel, HCA
Stanley Dock
Off Regent Road, North Liverpool
Mixed use development with residential, public exhibition space and leisure facilities including hotels
£80m
5 hectares
Permission applied for residential and public exhibition; permission granted for two hotels.
Current occupiers: Titanic Hotel and Conference Centre
Liverpool Innovation Park / Creative & Digital Campus
Off Edge Lane, East Liverpool
Mixed uses including offices, theatre school, film & television studios including refurbishment of the historic Littlewoods Building
£25-40m
Various sites with an area totalling over 10.3 hectares
Permission in place for B1/B2/B8. Permission being sought for film studios (sui generis)
Current occupiers: Various innovative companies
Future occupiers: Film/television companies and associated digital businesses
Former Garden Festival Site
Off Riverside Drive, South Liverpool
Predominantly residential with ground floor space for local shops, cafes and community facilities overlooking the River Mersey and Festival Gardens parkland.
£100m+
11 hectares
Permission granted for residential development (expires 2021)
Future occupiers: Residents
Liverpool Waters
Off Regent Road, North Liverpool
Mixed use development with offices, commercial, residential, hotels, visitor attractions and community facilities
£5.5bn
60 hectares
Outline permission granted
Future occupiers: Residents and businesses
Cains Brewery Village
Baltic area, Liverpool City Centre
Mixed use development with residential, food retail, hotel, leisure (cinema, cafes, restaurants) and light industrial
£150m
2.5 hectares
Planning permission granted
Future occupiers: Residents and businesses
Would love to understand his definition of “oven ready”
By Observer
Same old sites being touted around the market. These have been marketed to many investors and developers for the last couple of years – they haven’t sold because the land owners’ price aspirations are way too high.
Even the council-backed cowboys building studios on Chinese money find the prices too high – and that’s saying something!
By SC
has Joe has missed off the school sites he plans to sell/ keeps selling. Oh sorry they will go straight to a certain house builder based in Wales.
By Mary Smiley
For heavens sake. If he walks away with money for the city, I feel it will be in spite of his sales pitch as well as those cuts he never seems to shut up about.
By Mike