Council to consider bid to open indoor go-karting track in former Debenhams store

An indoor go-karting track could be on the grid for Liverpool city centre.

Liverpool City Council planning committee will, next Tuesday (February 8) consider a call for a change of use of the former Debenhams department store in the Liverpool One retail centre.

The store, a flagship site along with the John Lewis store in Liverpool One, closed last May after the retailer’s collapse the previous December.

But Liverpool One owner, Grosvenor, has applied to the council to retain retail use on the lower and upper ground levels of the store, and use the first and second levels for leisure purposes, including plans for an indoor go-karting track.

The report to the committee says planning officers believe the proposed change of use is appropriate in this location.

It says the proposal accords with national and local planning policy and would assist in bringing this highly prominent building back into beneficial use and increasing the range of leisure facilities within the city centre, while still protecting the retail function.

Planning officers recommend the application is approved.

The committee will also hear an application for a residential scheme in the Kirkdale ward which it originally approved last March.

Caro Developments wants to build a residential block comprising 10-, eight- and seven-storeys which would provide 180 studios, 166 one-bed units and 46 two-bed units, on Blackstock Street and Paul Street.

At its meeting of March 31, 2020, the committee considered Caro’s original application, which then contained plans for 452 units.

Permission was granted subject to the applicant entering into an S106 agreement, for improvements to the local area, worth £1,146,971.70.

But Caro said the payment made the scheme unviable.

Following an external review, the S106 payment has been reduced to £740,000, which has been accepted. But because of the time period that has elapsed since the previous application, the development is again before the committee, with a recommendation from planning officers to approve.

Officers have also recommended approval for plans to build eight flats and 80 houses on a former car park behind the Showcase Cinema on Stonedale Crescent in the Croxteth ward.

The applicant, DK Architects, is proposing 88 two- and three-bedroom houses and one-bedroom flats of a variety of styles.

The site is located approximately 4.5 miles north east of Liverpool city centre, and around 170m south of the East Lancashire Road, and forms part of the wider Stonedale Retail Park.

Another scheme slated for approval is a plan to build three industrial, storage and distribution units, with offices, on the site of a former car parts manufacturer, in the South Liverpool area of Speke.

The 5.13 ha of land is located within Speke Hall Industrial Estate and is now a brownfield site formerly occupied by Chemie Pelzer, a car component manufacturer, which has been cleared and is largely grassed over with a small pond located in the centre.