THING OF THE WEEK
SCULPTURE… Sculpture is back with a bang in Liverpool. The Liverpool BID Company is teaming up with Liverpool Parish Church aka St Nick’s, and city gallery dot-art to bring a new piece of art to the Liverpool Plinth, overlooking Chapel Street and the waterfront. The piece will replace last year’s winning sculpture, Gold Lamé, by Tony Heaton – a suspended, bright gold car. Artists from across the North are being urged to submit existing work that could call The Liverpool Plinth their home for the next year, with the closing date for applications on Thursday 28 March. The winner will also receive a £1,000 prize. Can’t talk any more – THING is off to the shed to get creative.
PLANNING BANTER… To Manchester City Council’s planning committee, not necessarily the first stop on any comedy tour, but one that can throw occasional light relief amidst the querying of parking spots and tree-planting obligations. On an application from Toyoko Inn, the Historic Buildings Panel submitted a comment suggesting a better solution to link the new-build element to its existing historic counterpart would be the creation of a “piano nobile”. This led planning committee member Cllr Ben Clay to query, well, what on earth one of those was. Even planning boss Dave Roscoe was nonplussed and replied: “Give me five minutes and I’ll Google it”. It’s an architectural term for the raised main floor of a large house, usually in the Classical Renaissance style. So Google says, anyway.
WHO KNEW… A whistle-stop tour of all things Chester at today’s event at Storyhouse, hosted by the city’s university. City of Chester MP Chris Matheson took a break from his Brexit bonanza to give a run-down of hopes for the city’s future, touching on everything from pesky Roman infrastructure, cycling, and even a solid five-minute chat about sewage. There’s a few things he’s not happy with – “utterly woeful” trains being one, and Dee House another, which he would “let fall down” – but overall he had a positive view of the future. An interesting nugget for the planning geeks: apparently there’s a parcel of land by the castle that’s still owned by Cheshire County Council, despite the fact the council no longer exists. One to watch out for in your next application.
DON’T BANK ON IT… Residents of Chorlton must be aghast (and no, Unicorn hasn’t stopped selling avocados or quinoa). Four Banks, the locally-named crossroad of Wilbraham Road and Barlow Moor Road is no more, as RBS has been put up for sale. That still leaves Natwest, Santander and HSBC, but Three Banks just doesn’t have the same ring to it…