Why filling in our dock is WRONG.

Infilling West Waterloo Dock was ruled to be wrong in 2006 - and it is WRONG now.

Filling in historic West Waterloo Dock is not a new idea. British Waterways - backed by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board - tried get approval to do it in 2006, when the Leeds-Liverpool Canal was being extended through our dock, past the Three Graces and on to Salthouse Dock. They submitted several planning applications, and were eventually told by the council that they had no chance.

They gave just two reasons for rejecting planning application 06F/2292, which are reproduced here, in full.

Reason 1: The proposed infilling of West Waterloo Dock, the resultant 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 ll 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, contrary to guidance in PPG15, UDP Policies HD5 (Development Affecting the Setting of a Listed Building) and HD12 (New Development Adjacent to Conservation Areas) and World Heritage Site Designation.

Reason 2: The proposed infilling operation would result in significant levels of noise, dust and disturbance that would be detrimental to the living conditions and amenity of nearby residents contrary to Policy EP4 (Landfill) of the Liverpool Unitary Development Plan.

Nothing has significantly changed in the intervening 13 years. Every detail in Reason 1 still applies. And anyone who has witnessed and suffered the “noise, dust and disturbance” from the new-build blocks to the north of us can testify just how “detrimental to the living conditions . . . of nearby residents” that has been. And Arup/Peel want to put us through far worse if their appalling plans for SIX MORE blocks of flats are approved.