Liverpool’s business district to be expanded

A report to Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet on Friday (25 May) will recommend a Spatial Regeneration Framework (SRF) be drafted that would seek to develop Liverpool’s business district and potentially connect it to the development of Princes Dock in the £5.5bn Liverpool Waters scheme.

The district, which covers 40 acres at the northern fringe of the city centre, predominantly consists of professional offices, but a rise in residential use through Permitted Development Rights is impacting on the potential to grow the city economy particularly with regard to supplying Grade A and B office space.

The city council, together with public and private sector partners at Liverpool City Region and Professional Liverpool, are to jointly commission the drafting of the SRF which will give the council’s planning authority the ability to determine future development use to meet demand and enable Liverpool to compete with the other core cities.

The council is also investing £100M in new road infrastructure at the northern fringe of the district and has recently submitted a planning application to create a new cruise terminal at Princes Dock, which lies less than 400m from the district’s current boundary.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “Liverpool’s business district is a major engine in the city’s economy and its future growth needs to be proactively managed to maximise its potential and further underpin the development of Liverpool Waters.

“The supply of Grade A office space is critical to any successful city centre which is why we are supporting the Pall Mall development but to stimulate demand and provide more supply, which will in turn create much needed jobs in the professional sector, we need a long-term vision which this Spatial Regeneration Framework will underpin.”

Following cabinet approval it is envisaged that a brief is put to the market in the summer with consultation to follow in the autumn, before a final SRF is submitted in early 2019.

The draft document would then be considered for formal adoption as a Spatial Planning Document so that it would constitute a material consideration for planning purposes.

The city council has recently followed a similar process to master plan for the Ten Streets Creativity District, Knowledge Quarter Gateway and Baltic Triangle.