Heritage campaigners fighting to block £35m redevelopment plans for Lime Street will today submit a new legal challenge to the scheme.
SAVE Britain’s Heritage’s latest bid will be through the Court of Appeal and comes after similar moves have been dismissed by the government and the High Court.
The group has been accused of “scaremongering” over the plans by both developers Neptune and Liverpool council, who are backing the scheme.
Today’s application to the Court of Appeal will see SAVE re-iterate its belief the plans should be blocked because they were not properly consulted on.
Plans for the regeneration of the Eastside of Lime Street
Arguing the council did not consider the project’s impact on the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site when it approved the plans, SAVE also believes the government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) should have been informed at an earlier stage.
Despite claims the group’s efforts are ramping up costs and putting any development of Lime Street – and subsequent plans to pump millions into the Grade II listed ABC cinema on the street – at risk, SAVE fear that if the student accommodation, hotel and shops bid goes ahead it will set a precedent that could undermine other protected sites in Liverpool and around the UK.
Lime Street regeneration
£35m Lime Street plans given go-ahead Developers hit back over criticism Inside the Futurist cinema Gateways to Liverpool 
The scheme would see the demolition of buildings , including the 1912-built Futurist cinema, between the listed Crown and Vines pubs.
Fundraising appeals to raise the estimated £12,500 legal costs of further action have so far led to donations totalling £3,000 from more than 60 people – including Merseyside Civic Society and 2012 Olympics opening ceremony writer Frank Cottrell Boyce.
Clem Cecil, SAVE’s director, said: “We are heartened by the response to our fundraising appeal. It is important to remember that despite Lime Street’s present dilapidated appearance, repairing the street could lead to a significant uplift, improving the economy of the area and creating a place where people want to spend time.
“ Liverpool’s WHS is at risk due to inappropriate development, of which this is a continuation. This is something that DCMS and Secretary of State John Whittingdale should be taking seriously.”
Earlier this week, bosses at Neptune accused SAVE of “scaremongering” over the plans, which have been backed by the former chair of Liverpool Architectural Society and senior lecturer in Urban Design at Liverpool John Moores University , Dominic Wilkinson.
Mr Wilkinson said: “This project will have no impact whatsoever on the World Heritage Site and that sounds like the kind of stock criticism you fall back on when there is no other cause for objection. There are many places where the impact of development is threatening heritage buildings, but this is simply not one of them.”
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/