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Islington Plans Progress
MOVES to
regenerate the Islington area of Liverpool city centre area are
making significant progress.
A masterplan outlining the phased regeneration of the area has been
drawn up by the Islington Regeneration Company and is now under
consideration by the city council.
It recommends that the area enclosed by New Islington, Moss Street,
Norton Street and London Road should have a combination of
commercial, retail and residential use as well as a multi-storey car
park.
The existing shops facing London Road would largely be retained with
redevelopment taking place elsewhere apart from Stafford Street
where refurbishment is proposed.
“This is an area which is ripe for development. But the council is
conscious that any plan should aim to allow existing companies to be
retained in the area where this is practicable.
We are doing more work on the masterplan along with Liverpool Vision
but it presents a good framework to realise the potential of the
area.
But I think we could use some imagination and not be confined by the
current lay-out of the area. For example, there are very wide verges
on Islington and New Islington and it may be possible to use those
for development if a business wished to expand. This should not
greatly affect traffic flow, if at all, and could provide increased
opportunities for regeneration.” said Cllr Peter Millea,
Executive Member for Regeneration and Transport.
Currently 600 businesses, residents and other stakeholders in the
area are being consulted about a planning framework which will help
guide the style, size and type of development suitable for the
Islington area.
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SOUTHPORT DRIVERS MUST PAY TO POLLUTE
A Southport
Euro-MP claims the Chancellor’s Budget announcement to increase car
tax is ‘tokenism’ and does not do enough to make
drivers of 4x4 vehicles pay severely for the pollution they cause.
Gordon Brown has announced that cars producing more than 185 grams
of carbon dioxide per kilometer will have to pay an extra £90 a year
in vehicle excise duty, bringing the total tax to £300.
Euro-MP Chris Davies claims that the Chancellor has only paid lip
service to the issue of climate change by raising vehicle excise
duty on gas guzzlers by a token amount.
The Liberal Democrat says that if the Government is serious about
reducing greenhouse gas emissions an annual licence fee of £2,000
should be introduced on all cars emitting more than 200 grams of
carbon dioxide per kilometre, with additional increases to follow
every year.
Mr Davies is the European Parliament’s report writer on new
legislation governing CO2 emissions from cars. He says that even the
motor industry is calling on the Chancellor to take firm action.
He said:- “The manufacturers of low emission cars I have met
in the past week are all united in saying that a hefty tax needs to
be levied on large cars emitting big quantities of carbon dioxide.
This is gesture politics not green politics. Gordon Brown wants to
give the appearance of doing something about the environment without
taking the firm measures that are really needed. Year after year he
has the chance to move investment and purchasing decisions in a
green direction and year after year he has dodged the touch
decisions."
The MEP accepts that farmers and a handful of people living in
extreme locations may need a 4x4 to cope with road and weather
conditions, but he believes they present a danger to others when
used in cities or on the 'school run'. |
