Council to clear Long Lane site

LIVERPOOL demolition firm JP Tisdale has been lined up to take down a council depot on a site that was earmarked for a new school under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.

BSF was cancelled by the coalition Government but the council is keen to clear the land on Long Lane, Aintree, because it doesn’t want to manage a large, empty building. It also wants to reduce its business rates liabilities.

The site was to be a new home for Archbishop Beck Secondary School.

In a report prepared ahead of a cabinet meeting on Friday the council said some elements of BSF could be resurrected but there is no definitive programme and given the lack of clarity it is planning a basic site clearance.

The council had originally allocated £2.7m to clear the site before handing it to the BSF private finance initiative (PFI) contractor. It admits this was an “overly cautious” full remediation to reduce the risk of future compensation claims from the PFI vehicle.

A basic clearance, down to ground floor slab level, by JP Tisdale will set the council back £284,150.