CPRE Liverpool Press Release - Capital of Culture Day 20/08


The Capital of Culture is a great prize for Liverpool but must be
about more than just high profile (and high cost) icons to benefit
the business and tourist market of the city centre, vital though these
employers are.

It must reflect the spirit of the whole city and bring regeneration
to the historic residential communities beyond the central shopping
streets and offices.

The Victorian Parks at the core of Toxteth, Kensington and Anfield
are jewels in a world class cultural crown to be proud of and still
sustain the health of often troubled places, even in their current
faded state.

But not only has £7m of Heritage Lottery Funds offered to the council
for restoration of listed Stanley and Newsham Parks been turned down,
these cherished green lungs are now being carved up by development
actively encouraged by the local authority and promoted by the Bishop
of Liverpool, who claims to be a committed environmentalist.

This erosion of parkland breaks a clear pledge to place all the
city's open spaces 'safe forever' in a land trust 'beyond the reach
of politicans and officers'.

At the same time local cultural landmarks like churches, pubs and libraries
lie in decay across the inner city, and potential tourist attractions
beyond the centre are being left to rot.

The latest news is that the house where Beatle Ringo Starr was born
is earmarked for council demolition, and the imposing Welsh Chapel on
the roundabout Paul McCartney immortalised in Penny Lane is to be
taken down for a block of flats.

The huge Seaman's Hospital overlooking Newsham Park lake was
designed by 19th century Liverpudlian Alfred Waterhouse famous as the
architect of Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in
London. Those cities cherish his ornate Gothic designs but his greatest
hometown masterpiece is fast slipping into decay despite its
associations with the World Heritage Site.

Ken Dodd's proposed venue for his museum of comedy, historic
Thingwall Hall has been pulled down after several 'mysterious' fires.
It was not saved by being in city ownership, which turned out to be a
rather bad joke to end on!

And a string of derelict libraries in inner-city communities like Everton
and Lister Drive do little credit to a 'learning city'.

Such squandering of the generous civic legacy left by past
generations is compounded by high handed treatment of modern
cultural institutions like Quiggins and the Flying Picket, the kind
of places that spawn bands and artistic talent of the future and
which any truly forward thinking cultural capital will try and
encourage rather than alienate.

There is still time to switch the focus from nebulous ego
boosting vanity projects in the commercial centre to imaginative,
grass roots cultural engagement with Liverpool's bewildering array of
peoples and places.

Tearing the heart out of the city's parkland heritage is the wrong
way to start about this.

ENDS - 480 Words

Enquiries: Pamela Leadbetter CPRE Liverpool Chair 0151-421-0305
Campaign to Protect Rural England