Liverpool and Tesco in row over Everton regeneraton scheme



CITY bosses have clashed with Tesco over the long-running Great Homer Street regeneration project.

The supermarket giant said it would “kick-start” the “stalled” regeneration project if it was given the go-ahead for a 8, 457 square metre superstore.

But the council is standing firm, insisting the Tesco scheme is “simply another food store”.

Last week developer St Modwen chose rivals Sainsbury to build a new supermarket on the Everton site.

The war of words precedes a public inquiry scheduled for the autumn which will see Tesco appeal on the grounds the council failed to make a decision on the application within the statutory time limit.

According to a report due to go before city planners next week, the Tesco plan is “undeliverable” and would require a compulsory purchase order if it were to go ahead.

City planning chiefs also said “no evidence has been provided as to how such a development would kick-start the wider masterplan”.

The Great Homer Street Medical Centre’s patients’ forum said it fears the application would “further delay the development of the corridor” and any move away from the original plans would be “a waste of time and money”.

Everton councillor Jane Corbett said it was “poorly thought through, shows a lack of understanding of urban renewal and urban design and would undermine the regeneration of the area.”

The report states the council “objects to the application on behalf of the owner of part of the application site and as signatory of a development agreement with St Modwen Developments Ltd in respect of all the application site and adjoining land”.

The report adds: “It is simply a new food store. From a practical point of view the Tesco proposal is, in any case, undeliverable. It includes land and buildings subject to interests owned by the city council and by a variety of third parties.

“Realistically, those interested could only be assembled by a compulsory purchase order promoted by the city council.”

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