The Court of Appeal has put an end to a group of Liverpool business people’s bid to stop a £35m redevelopment of the
After a brief hearing, Lord Justice Tuckey refused to grant them leave to appeal against a High Court decision that the secretary of state for communities and local government had been entitled to confirm the compulsory purchase of their business premises.
At the High Court in April, Mr Justice Goldring rejected Michael and Anis McCabe and two others’ challenge to the confirmation of English Partnerships’ order that their shops should be compulsorily purchased to make way for a 27–storey tower by Liverpool–based developer Iliad.
The secretary of state made the confirmation in October 2006, on the recommendation of an inspector appointed to conduct a public inquiry into English Partnerships’ compulsory purchase order.
The McCabes argued that the secretary of state had fallen into error in endorsing English Partnerships’ attempt to acquire property on the basis that it is within an area that is not as a whole vacant, underused or ineffectively used.
Goldring said that while he had “some sympathy” for them the secretary of state’s inspector had “accurately understood English Partnerships’ powers” and had been “entitled to conclude that the site was underused or ineffectively used”.
“It was a question of fact for him on the evidence that he heard, having regard to the site as a whole,” he said.
Upholding that view, Tuckey said that he “doubted whether a different judge would take a different view” and the judge had made no error of law.
After demolition of the current 13–storey tower, the new tower will provide 152 flats on 22 storeys and 16,000 sq ft of offices and 11,000 sq ft of retail on five storeys.
As well as the tower, the Lime Street plans include a redevelopment of the area in front of Lime Street station to provide a new public space.
