“When Peel Holdings purchased the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company a few years ago I stood on the waterfronts of both Liverpool and Wirral with the company Chairman and the view in many ways created a feeling of sadness because these docks that had been the lifeblood of the region about a century ago had fallen into such dereliction. They had been abandoned and forgotten, the City had turned its back on something that had helped make Liverpool the great place that it is.

The post-Panamax ships and containerisation that the world has adopted to distribute its goods are so big that the River Mersey is simply not deep enough in the estuary for them so the shipping trade has had to move to deeper water. Thus, some parts of Birkenhead Docks and Liverpool Docks will never come back into effective port uses because of this and it’s these areas of land that we are working up schemes for to bring them back into use for the needs of this century and to make them once again contribute towards the local economy like they used to.

The forefathers of Liverpool Docks were pioneers of their time and they had the will and enthusiasm to drive things forward against so many others who saw fit to put their efforts into undermining and criticising most of their ideas that involved change. Thankfully, the forefathers had the determination to turn their visions into reality and delivered something that we are all very grateful for. What would they think if they saw the land now in its abandoned state?

 We are now well over a century later and Peel has come along with its own ideas and we are to share these with the people of Liverpool this Friday and Saturday at our exhibition being held at a local shop 9 Whitechapel in the city centre located between the Met Quarter and Lord Street and we look for support from the majority rather than resistance from the minority.

When the Three Graces where proposed which involved the filling in of three docks, the newspaper reports show that there was an outcry about this. If we took the preservation of Liverpool’s wonderful heritage back to its origins, we would have to demolish the Three Graces and re-open these three old docks the remains of which are probably still there underneath. Of course this would be ridiculous because we all love the Three Graces. Time and needs had moved on for these three docks and the Three Graces were built and time has moved on now for us to consider redevelopment of the many acres of disused land.

We have a drawing that is over one hundred years old prepared by one of the famous engineers at the time, probably Jesse Hartley, that shows an increase in the height of buildings moving north alongside the Three Graces. The Liver Building was the tallest building in Europe at the time it was built and had it not been on the limits of technology, it would certainly have been built higher.

Our vision that we call Liverpool Waters is to create a new living and working environment on this redundant dockland with beautiful high rise and high quality buildings and make this part of the waterfront spectacular again and bring back into use, but this time creating local jobs for all ages and making the waterfront accessible to the public.

Finding and agreeing a way of moving Liverpool Waters positively through the planning system has not been without its challenges.

From Peel’s point of view we obviously want a workable planning consent but given this will be the largest planning application in the UK, it’s not been easy to find a way through and there are no similar precedents to learn from. This project has genuinely been Heritage led given that the site is either in the World Heritage Site or in what is called its buffer zone, so that has been an added challenge.

However it’s in everybody’s best interests that we get this right and given that it’s a £5.5 billion investment in Liverpool over the next few decades providing tens of thousands of new jobs we have had lots of well thought through advice from Liverpool Council, Liverpool Vision, Government Office, English Heritage, CABE, this list goes on. This advice and guidance has been so helpful in finding a way forward and Peel really appreciates the time, effort and expertise all have put into this. The will to move this great city forward is still there.

Our proposed planning application route is to submit an ‘outline’ planning application for the redevelopment of the whole of the site which will provide significant detail in terms of scale, height, mass, etc in the form of what we call ‘parameter plans’. This will provide sufficient detail to enable key issues to be considered and determined such as the impact on the setting of listed buildings, impact on the World Heritage Site and Conservation Areas, strategic views, views into and out of the site, impact on the skyline, etc.

Peel has a strong track record in delivering major high quality and award winning developments around the UK within the confines of the existing planning system. Schemes include MediaCityUk in Salford which has just been given Breeam Community Status, Gloucester Quays, the Trafford Centre and Liverpool John Lennon Airport. These schemes have not only provided genuine benefits to the areas around them by employing local people and bringing high quality development, but they have also attracted investment. 

For a city to reach international status and compete on a world platform it needs a good airport and a good port to support it.

We have made great inroads into achieving this to support our Liverpool Waters proposals. 

Peel has committed significant resources to Liverpool Waters project and other projects along the Mersey corridor and Atlantic Gateway. The scale of investment in transport, energy and waste, and development projects is huge – it demonstrates a long term commitment by Peel to the future growth of the region and this commitment is now reflected in the North West Regional Strategy which Peel believes will become the blueprint for sustainable economic growth in the northwest.

This investment is a demonstration of Peel’s confidence in the deliverability of the scale and ambition of the proposals. Put simply, Peel would not be spending significant sums of money at this time unless it was fully intending to bring the project forward as soon as possible. It would have been easy for Peel to ‘mothball’ Liverpool Waters, as many developers have done to their projects elsewhere, and come back to them when the economy improves. Instead, Peel has maintained its commitment.

We are always asked the question, when will works start on site if planning permission is granted. Well, the chairman has a saying that applies here – DPP – Determination, Perseverance and Patience.

It has taken Peel a long time to establish an effective presence in the Northwest and it’s taken a lot of effort and risk to get where we are. I have worked for Peel for over 20 years now and I genuinely believe that we have made a large contribution to the prosperity of the region and we have lots more fuel in the tank to do much more if we are allowed to.

Every decade the economy seems to crash in some way and we have to suffer a recession and it takes some difficult decisions and strategies to find a way through and survive and no lifelines are thrown out to us like the banks have been given.

We are not immune from the effects of this recession but will continue to soldier on as we have always done to find a way through and start works on site with our projects.

The public will begin to notice immediate improvements around the site towards the middle of this year when proposed works to repair the Bascule Bridge and reopen the road link between Waterloo Road and Regent Road will be completed. A series of works are also proposed to seek to repair a number of historic buildings and structures on the site, particularly towards the north of the site.

One thing is for sure without planning permission we can’t do anything meaningful within the boundary of Liverpool Waters so getting public support this Friday and Saturday who ultimately get behind the Councillors is vital.

The final decision of course rests in the hands of Government Office and they are more likely to reach an early positive decision if we get it right and Liverpool Council see fit to recommend Liverpool Waters be approved.

Time will tell!”