Paradise Street to avoid courts

GROSVENOR'S £750m redevelopment of Liverpool's central shopping district cleared its final legal hurdle last night.

It will allow developer Grosvenor to proceed with work on the Paradise Street Development Area without waiting for the results of a High Court challenge, which was due to start on September 9.

Time is crucial to the developers as they battle to have as much of the development as possible ready in time for Capital of Culture year in 2008. A team of negotiators from Quiggins, owned by brothers Peter and Jimmy Tierney, has been involved in detailed talks with Grosvenor representatives during the last week.

Last night, it resulted in an agreed statement being released to the Daily Post.

A Quiggins spokesman said: "The Quiggins Centre can today announce that, following negotiations with developer Grosvenor, it is withdrawing from a legal challenge to the outcome of the Paradise Street public inquiry.

"Our recent discussions with Grosvenor have been extremely productive.

"As a result, we now feel more confident we can secure the future of our business.

"We have made our decision to withdraw our legal challenge as an act of good faith and to move more quickly to an agreement with Grosvenor that is acceptable to both of us."

To deliver a radical overall of Liverpool's shopping district, Grosvenor and the city council needed to gather together a bank of land.

Many businesses, including Quiggins on Peter's Lane next to Bluecoat Chambers, refused to give up their sites and fought the plans at a public inquiry last year.

The inquiry found for the developers and granted compulsory purchase orders to allow the project to go ahead and it was this decision Quiggins was seeking to challenge in the courts.

Last night, Rod Holmes, project manager for Grosvenor, said: "We're pleased to hear the news and we hope they will withdraw as soon as possible and, in any case, before the hearing scheduled for September 9.

"If they do so, it will remove the ongoing uncertainty for their tenants. We look forward to working with the Quiggins centre and its tenants to create the 'new Quiggins'."

Negotiations between the two sides will now continue as a new home for Quiggins is sought with particular attention no doubt focusing on at least part of the George Henry Lee site on Church Street.

It is expected Quiggins will be able to continue trading on its current site for two years.

The centre is one of Liverpool's cultural gems and has grown from a derelict building 17 years ago into a thriving business with 45 stallholders supporting 250 jobs.

It is planned to turn the Quiggins site into an arcade of exclusive designer shops, attracting shoppers through from Church Street. andykelly@dailypost.co.uk

Index