Liverpool Council, together with government and Historic England, has drafted a Desired State of Conservation Report (DSOCR) which describes the corrective measures Liverpool is proposing to protect the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the site which the city hopes will persuade UNESCO to remove the site from the ‘in danger’ list.
Liverpool Express writes:
The DSOCR will go to the council’s Cabinet for endorsement following its recent submission to Government, and once approved will be submitted to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for subsequent examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session in July.
The report focuses on the main issue of how the city needs to balance its projected population and economic growth over the next 15 years, which will see the creation of 35,000 new homes and 30,000 jobs, whilst protecting its World Heritage Site (WHS). The main threat to the city’s WHS, as perceived by UNESCO, is the proposed developments in the £5bn Liverpool Waters scheme, specifically for its Central Docks area, which was given outline planning permission in June 2013. However, the report shows that Peel’s initial outline proposal for Central Docks is now being reviewed and a neighbourhood masterplan will take in heritage concerns and planning guidelines on heights of buildings.
Other proposed corrective measures in the DSOCR, all of which are either completed or in progress, are:
- The provision of a comprehensive Management Plan for the World Heritage Site (WHS) – approved by Cabinet in May 2017
- To provide regulatory planning documents which provide clear, legal guidelines to protect the WHS Property. The City Local Plan, the Liverpool Waters Neighbourhood Masterplans, the WHS management Plan and a proposed new Supplementary Planning Document
- Develop a skyline policy for tall buildings as proposed in the City’s Local Plan
- Provide clear urban design guidelines as proposed in the City’s Local Plan
- Implement the complementary Ten Streets Spatial Regeneration Framework – approved by Cabinet in February 2018
- Future management of the WHS Property potentially through the creation of a new Trust
- Develop and Implement a WHS Interpretation and Communication Strategy building on the creation of the first WHS ‘Hub’ at the RIBA North Centre including the use of the City’s Digital Model
- Review the WHS Property boundary with a view to the enhancement/extension of the site…..
….In total more than £750m has been invested into historic assets within the WHS in the past decade including the upgrade of 37 listed buildings, 18 with council financial assistance, such as the Aloft Hotel, the award-winning Central Library and Stanley Dock. Since 2015 each development proposal that has the potential to affect the OUV is accompanied by a Heritage Impact Assessment that details the significance of the asset/s that may be affected, the nature of that impact and, where appropriate, how any harmful impacts can be mitigated. And since the 2017 World Heritage Committee Session Liverpool has also established an independent Task Force to re-establish a positive debate with Government and UNESCO with a view to the retention of WHS status.
