Our recent crowdfunding, to test the water and raise funds for initial legal fees was a success. Within four weeks we reached our first target. Litigation doesnt come cheap as we all know but is an essential component of our campaign strategy.
We have sought Legal advice throughout our campaign and the added funds to our growing pot will allow SWD to be in a legally healthier and responsive position if the heinous planning application to destruct Waterloo Dock is approved by Liverpool City Council and endorsed by the Planning Committee.
What happened to previous planning applications?
A previous attempt to infill West Waterloo dock in 2006, (reference planning explorer O6F/2292) was refused. Planning application O6F/2292.
At the time the Liberal Democrats were in power and we did not have an elected mayor. This application was refused by Liverpool City Council (LCC). The case officer was John Woodward.
Mr Woodward provided two refusal reasons:-
1.’The proposed infilling of West Waterloo Dock; the resulting loss of dock water space and the creation of an area of infilled land would: adversely impact on the historic integrity and setting of the adjoining grade 2 listed Princes Half Tide Dock; would be detrimental to the visual amenity of the area; detrimental to the setting and views into and out of the Stanley Dock conservation area and the world heritage site; and would serve to irreversibly undermine the historic significance of this part of the Liverpool dock system and the World Heritage site buffer zone.
The LCC planning committee endorsed the refusal on 10 October 2006.
Louise Ellman Liverpool’s MP for Liverpool Riverside had objected to the infill of West Waterloo Dock on three points:-
Kirkdale councillors Joe Hanson and Malcolm Kennedy ( both of whom are presently on the 2019 Liverpool planning committee) objected to the application on the following grounds because they considered:-
‘This is a way for Peel Holdings to make money at the expense of the residents in the area’ who had bought into a lifestyle, ( the Waterloo Warehouse apartments marketed as waterfront luxury apartments), asserting that local residents were being ‘deprived of the visual amenity of Waterloo Dock and the heritage of the area’.
They both go on to lambast the proposal stating ‘West Waterloo dock is one of the oldest docks in the city and should be preserved for future generations of the people of Liverpool. Its removal, they state, sent out the wrong messages across the country and ‘flies in the face of the Capital of Culture if we are going to pull down, rip up and fill in anything for a quick profit’.
The Waterfront Neighbourhood Committee objected to:
‘The loss of a historic dock, exacerbating existing environmental problems in the area’.