Benmore gains approval for £30m Speke scheme
AROUND 320 jobs are set to be created at Speke in south Liverpool after Northern Irish developer Benmore gained planning approval for a £30m New Mersey Leisure scheme.
The developer was granted approval for the scheme, which has been designed by Liverpool-based architectural practice Falconer Chester Hall, at a planning committee meeting earlier today.
The project includes plans for four leisure blocks including a 78-bed hotel, a 120-bed hotel, bars, cafes restaurants and a 7-screen cinema. Three wind turbines are also set to be built on the 15-acre site behind B&Q off Speke Boulevard.
Work is set to start this year and the development is due to complete by late 2013.
Benmore Group chief executive David Burrows said: “We are delighted to have been granted permission for a project which will make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people in south Liverpool, creating hundreds of jobs and providing sorely needed family leisure facilities for local people.
“We are committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure this project is delivered on time and on budget, with minimum disruption to existing businesses using the site and maximum benefit to the people of Speke Garston.
He said that 400 jobs would be created during construction, alongside the 320 permanent jobs at the scheme.
“The New Mersey Leisure scheme will transform a key gateway into the city and represents, in the current climate, one of the city’s most significant regeneration projects for the next decade.”
Falconer Chester Hall managing director Adam Hall said: “Our proposals will create a dynamic frontage to Speke Boulevard and new pedestrian links into the adjoining New Mersey Retail Park.
“We are delighted to be involved with this a significant regeneration project for this southern gateway to the city.”
There had been a number of objections to the proposal. One, from Peel Investments, argued that as the development was close to land currently used as a freight terminal it could frustrate further expansion of the docks.
Unite The Union, which represents workers at a distribution depot on the site for around 4,000 Ford cars, said the decision put 240 skilled jobs at risk.
The union said it was “furious” that the council agreed to a leisure scheme in an area where its members had provided final delivery for Ford products across the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Paul Finegan, Unite North West regional secretary, said: “Ford has been providing skilled jobs in the area for over 40 years and closure of the site as a distribution centre will result in a move away from Merseyside. It also provides distribution for Jaguar Land Rover to the UK and export markets around the world.
“Merseyside has taken enough blows. We need more businesses like Ford and Jaguar to be part of its future to provide the skilled work that grows our local economy. We will not standby and let our members’ jobs be driven out of the area.”
