Is it too late for compromise between Peel and Unesco over Liverpools World Heritage Site?
Today I've reported how Liverpool was warned by Unesco it is preparing to strip the city of its World Heritage Site status unless radical changes are made to the £5.5bn skyscraper scheme.
It is precisely the news that was feared by many, you can read it HERE.
To say the city council is now between a rock and a hard place is an understatement.
It has on the one side Peel Holdings promising to create thousands of jobs and regeneration on a huge scale. Who can blame the council for wanting to encourage the development?
Some will say that it is also the council's job to protect the city's heritage, and of course it is.
Sceptics doubt that the huge development planned by Peel will ever come to fruition, such is the scale of it.
But the council has to believe that there is a good chance it will go ahead, and if any company can pull it off, it is Peel.
The company has also previously made clear that it believes it has compromised enough already and reduced the number of skyscrapers.
So what does the council do? In an official statement it says it will continue having dialogue with Unesco, it hopes that some sort of compromise can be found.
But what compromise will satisfy both Peel and Unesco? It is hard to see one.
The inspectors will write their report by December 23, and Peel and the council are expecting a copy up to a month later.
At some point after that the plans will go to the city's planning committee. And in June Unesco's World Heritage Committee will decide Liverpool's fate.
It is inconceivable that either the council or Peel would allow the plans to go to the planning committee without a recommendation for approval from city council officials.
I can't imagine the planning committee turning the plans down either.
So let's assume that the scheme will get planning permission in their current form, if no changes are made.
The word compromise has been used more times than I care to remember during this debate, but sadly we are heading for a showdown.
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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Losing our Wold Heritage Status would be a real tragedy. The Peel Development is a hugely optimistic proposal set to last for many years and with an uproven market. The UNESCO status is bringing in tourism therefore jobs today.
Liverpool must remain distinctive if it is to be successful. The WHS is more important than skyscrapers in this regard.
Peel holdings must move again if planning permission is to be granted.
Where is the proof that WHS has brought in a single tourist?
I am sure around the world there are people who like ot travel to great places and I am sure that none of them travel there based on the fact it is a World Heritage site.
Yes it is a nice title but are people really visiting the Vatican (middle of a very developed city) because it is a WHS? Is Barcelona (still a bustling developing city) flocked to due to its Gaudi-inspired WHS status alone?
Let's be serious. Development does not ruin our WHS, just puts it in a different context - one of a developing, regenerating city. Or, if you like, the same context in which th Three Graces were built.
If the good folk of UNESCO (and some misguided aspic-obsessed local folk) can't handle that then so be it. I am sure the people of Liverpool can live with that burden.
I would like to think that maybe at least one person came because of world heritage status.
I would like to think it was a good selling point in getting the big cruise liners to choose Liverpool as a stop over point. I am not sure come and see a really massive sky scraper would generate the same pull.
Everything that Peel comes up with is good for Peel as that is what big companies do. I would hate to see Liverpool and its population marginalised to the state of a bit part player in the Peel success story.
Someone needs to take a look at what Peel wants but also be aware of what the city wants.
Maybe as a starting point ask the team what would be acceptable to them rather than saying that this is what we are going to do.
But no one is suggesting that we get rid of why people come here - just change the setting, the context. No rourist maycome because of a skyscraper but by your own reasoning they may.
And of course Peel have their own commercial interests at heart. So did Royal Liver, so did Cunard, so did the Port company.
In fact, so did the builders of the Met Cathedral (Lutyens' was too costly)!
WHS is showing itself to be meaningless if it cannot envisage a commercial development like Liverpool's WHS being part of a wider commercial development.
As we were leaving we saw her get in to a new 5 series BMW and my view of her being average was now like, okay okay she's aiiite.