Liverpool Waters is a large scale £5.5bn development that has been proposed by the

Peel Group The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Greater Manchester, Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes ...

in the

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

area of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The development will make use of a series of derelict dock spaces at Central Docks. From 2004 to 2021, much of the docks involved in the development were part of the

Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City is a former UNESCO designated World Heritage Site in Liverpool, England, that comprised six locations in the Liverpool city centre, city centre including the Pier Head, Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool, Albert Dock ...

, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, but the development of these docks were cited as a reason for the revocation of Liverpool's World Heritage status. This is an area north of Liverpool's historic Pier Head."Peel unveil £5.5 billion investment plans"
, Peel News, 6 March 2007 It is the sister programme of the

Wirral Waters Wirral Waters is a large scale £4.5bn development currently being built by the Peel Group for Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is the sister programme of the Liverpool Waters project. Since 2012 the two projects have enjoyed ...

project. Since 2012 the two projects have held

enterprise zone An urban enterprise zone is an area in which policies to encourage economic growth and development are implemented. Urban enterprise zone policies generally offer tax concessions, infrastructure incentives, and reduced regulations to attract invest ...

statuses, together forming the Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone.

The development

In 2007, Peel announced that they planned to create at least 17,000 full-time jobs and of new commercial and residential floor space including 23,000 apartments and four hotels. It is split into four sectors: *Sector A:

Bramley-Moore Dock Bramley-Moore Dock was a dock on the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. The dock is located in the northern dock system in Liverpool's Vauxhall area, and was connected to Sandon Half Tide Dock to the north ...

, Nelson Dock *Sector B: Salisbury Dock, Collingwood Dock *Sector C:

Liverpool Canal Link The Liverpool Canal Link is an England, English waterway link that connects the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, at the Liverpool Pier Head, to the city's South Docks. It cost £22m and was opened in March 2009. The new link adds of navigable wate ...

, including Trafalgar Dock, Clarence Dock, West Waterloo Dock, East Waterloo Dock *Sector D: Prince's Half-Tide Dock, Prince's Dock The developers have stated that the project may take 50 years before it is finished. The planning applications were submitted by the developers on 4 October 2010. and approved in 2013.

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

has formally objected to the plans and

has expressed concern, placing ''Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City'' on its

List of World Heritage in Danger The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through the World Heritage Committee according to Article 11.4 of the World Heritage Convention,Full title: ''Conv ...

in 2012. The proposal was referred to Communities Secretary

Eric Pickles Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 United ...

to assess whether to hold a public inquiry. Pickles' decision not to call a public inquiry, announced in March 2013, means that the project can go ahead regardless, although it is unclear what the next steps are or when they may be taken. In July 2021, the

World Heritage Committee The World Heritage Committee is a committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization that selects the sites to be listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Her ...

cited the development as a reason for the revocation of Liverpool's World Heritage status. Soon after the 2024 general election,

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Rachel Reeves announced the government would intervene on a number of 'stalled' development sites, including Central Docks, part of Liverpool Waters. It was then announced that Homes England were providing £55 million to pay for infrastructure works.

Transport links

In 2007, a

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

to link the area to Liverpool's city centre, with the potential to connect to the John Lennon Airport was proposed. In 2024, a bus rapid transit system was proposed.

Loss of Liverpool's World Heritage status

Development has met with opposition from several heritage bodies, including UNESCO, who said the development could lead to Liverpool losing its

status. In July 2017,

warned that Liverpool's status as a

was at risk of being rescinded, partly in light of Liverpool Waters' development proposals, with

asserting that the proposals would leave the setting of some of Liverpool's most significant historic buildings "severely compromised", the archaeological remains of parts of the historic docks "at risk of destruction", and "the city's historic urban landscape ... permanently unbalanced". In 2021, UNESCO recommended that the City lose its status, with Liverpool Waters project, the development at Bramley-Moore Dock and the longstanding development of the waterfront being cited as reasons for the recommendation. Liverpool City Region Mayor

Steve Rotheram Steven Philip Rotheram (born 4 November 1961) is a British politician serving as Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region since 2017. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, he was Member of Parliame ...

opposed the decision and said, "We are proud of our history but our heritage is a vital part of our regeneration. I'd urge them to take up our invitation to visit rather than taking their decision sat around a table on the other side of the world." The revocation of the World Heritage Site status was confirmed in July 2021.Liverpool stripped of Unesco World Heritage status
''BBC News'' 21 July 2021

References

External links

Official site

Liverpool Pictorial
Regenerating Liverpool’s historic docklands
{{UKSkyscrapers Economy of Merseyside Liverpool docks Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Merseyside Proposed populated places in the United Kingdom Proposed transport infrastructure in the North West of England Proposed buildings and structures in Liverpool

Liverpool Waters Liverpool Waters is a large scale £5.5bn development that has been proposed by the Peel Group in the Vauxhall, Liverpool, Vauxhall area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The development will make use of a series of derelict dock spaces at Cen ...

The Peel Group

The development

Transport links

Loss of Liverpool's World Heritage status

See also

References

External links