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BUSINESS leaders in Liverpool have hit out at an influential report accusing UK cities of sleepwalking into sterile privatised public spaces.
The study from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors attacks developments such as Grosvenor’s Liverpool One for creating bland environments policed by private security guards.
But rather than face sniping from the sidelines, the companies behind the schemes deserve praise for transforming city centres across the UK, said private sector lobby group Downtown Liverpool in Business.
“When Liverpool One is completed in two years’ time, it will transform Liverpool city centre and help it retain its reputation as a European shopping destination,” said DLIB Chairman Frank McKenna.
“To suggest that it is somehow wrong to police that area so that there is no anti-social behaviour and less litter is baffling.”
Report author Anna Minton said “urgent debate” was needed to prevent the UK “sleepwalking into a privatisation of the public realm”.
In particular, the report criticises Liverpool One for banning begging, skateboarding and rollerblading, and for limiting consumption of food and alcohol to designated areas.
“If anything, the council should take a lead from Grosvenor and apply the same standards across the city centre.
“Nobody wants a two-tier city centre, but if it befalls the private sector to lead the way and show what people really want from their shopping districts, then so be it.”
Note to editors
For more information, or to arrange an interview with Frank McKenna, call Chris Marritt at Mason Media on 0151 707 4514 or 07908 214950.
