An application was filed on Friday to request leave for a judicial review into Liverpool City Council’s decision to allow a zip wire in the heart of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site.
Image: Designs from the planning application.
The Victorian Society has launched a legal challenge to the decision to allow an intrusive zip wire in the central Liverpool. One end of the proposed zipwire would land on the roof of Liverpool’s Central Library, a listed building in the heart of historic Liverpool, within the World Heritage Site. The Victorian Society has applied to the High Court for leave for a judicial review into Liverpool City Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the proposal, and also not to require listed building consent for it. Many groups and individuals are alarmed by the harm that the zip wire would cause to the setting of the many historic buildings nearby, including Grade I-listed St George’s Hall and a number of memorials.
In our view, Liverpool Council should have required the applicant to apply for listed building consent, given the visual impact of the zip wire on the Central Library, and their officer’s report for the planning permission application failed to give correct guidance on the appropriate weight that should have been given to heritage factors when considering the decision.
Tom Taylor, Conservation Adviser for the The Victorian Society, commented: “Liverpool City Council has given consent for far too many harmful developments in recent years, from the Welsh Streets to the Futurist Cinema. The proposed zip wire could not be in a more insensitive or inappropriate position, right in the heart of Liverpool’s great historic civic buildings and monuments. The noise and movement, as well as the physical infrastructure required would harm this important historic area. There are many places in Merseyside where a zip wire would be acceptable, but such a sensitive site is the wrong choice.”
The Victorian Society will shortly start a crowdfunding appeal to raise funds that will help make this legal challenge possible.
19/08/2020
