'Eyesore' city block to be transformed after blaze

Construction of more than 130 new flats at a controversial site in north Liverpool hit by a major blaze earlier this year will go-ahead. At the start of this year, one of the long-stalled Fox Street Village blocks was gripped by flames as ashes scattered over neighbouring streets in Everton and further afield.

A dozen fire engines attended the scene as a major incident was declared. Liverpool Council’s planning committee has now given the sign off to proposals to complete the final stage of the residential scheme which is a "derelict eyesore".

The original four storey building had formed part of a larger combined site for which planning permissions had previously been granted but legal terms never signed.

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Following the blaze and demolition, only the concrete base and underground works such as drainage now remain of block D. The unit had been part of the wider Fox Street Village development which includes an existing building known as Swainbanks and a new block on the corner of Prince Edwin Street.

These were completed despite the required permissions and enforcement notices being issued owing to the poor standard of work completed. In 2020 it was revealed Liverpool Council faced a £340,000 bill after being forced to implement extra safety measures at one unsafe block.

A year earlier the two companies behind the Fox Street Village - Linmari Construction Limited and Fox Street Village Ltd - both went into administration and liquidation, with creditors reportedly owed around £10m. The site is now currently owned by Greater Manchester-based applicant SGL1 Ltd, who according to a planning statement, told Liverpool Council it would seek to regularise planning issues for the other blocks “in the future.”

Mike Ralph, agent on behalf of the applicant, said: “It is certainly a complex matter given the site. The fire in January only added further problems, additional work and significant additional development costs.

“It’s not a surprise the viability has reduced further.” Matthew Ward, speaking as part of the application, added: “Our only focus has been trying to resolve the historic problems that we inherited, trying to put into place an appropriate permission for a quality residential development and then pressing on with the development of block D itself.”

Initially, SGL1 Ltd had hoped to build 250 flats on the site but has scaled back its designs to provide 138 homes and commercial floorspace with associated landscaping and parking and associated works.

The development will comprise a C-shaped perimeter block of five storeys together with a lower ground floor with a small area of landscaping and car parking to the rear providing 34 car parking spaces. A total of four flats will be situated on the ground floor with a further 22 flats above on the first floor.

The second, third and fourth floors will each contain 28 properties, with commercial space at the ground floor facing Fox Street. More than 100 objections have been received regarding the application.

This included Cllr Jane Corbett, who represents Everton West. She said: “I object in the strongest terms to the planning application.” Cllr Corbett said the development had a “shameful history” dating back over the last decade and it “really didn’t need to be like this.”

She said: “The local need is for affordable family housing, not yet more apartments.” Cllr Corbett added how social housing was needed in the area, saying: “We need good development, not any development.”

Chris Burridge, a right to manage director at Fox Street Village, said getting the work completed was a welcome step but the development left other parts in “legal and planning limbo,” claiming residents in the remaining blocks had offered to finance the construction of bike storage, trees and landscaping.

He said: “The building in question is a derelict eyesore", adding it hosts a vermin problem. In recommending the plans be approved, John Hayes, planning officer, said: “This has been a stalled site now for getting on 10 years, for a long period of that time it was a significant eyesore, it was a problem. The fire has seen to a lot of that insofar as the building has now gone in the main.”