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Public consultation launches
on future of St Luke's
LIVERPOOL City Council has started a public consultation exercise on the future of St Luke's Church,
known locally as the Bombed Out Church.
People are being encouraged to complete a short online survey, which asks their
views on the role St Luke's should play in the life of the City. It follows a
commitment from Mayor Joe Anderson to keep it in public ownership and secure a
viable future for the building. The survey is available
online and
is open until the end of September 2015.
The consultation will gauge views on how the Bombed Out Church can be preserved
as a living war memorial, the type of events that should be held there and what
further facilities or possible development should be carried out.
The results will be used as the basis to make decisions in relation to its
future, which could include seeking expressions of interest for the appointment
of an occupier/operator to run the site in the 2016.
The successful party must be able to demonstrate that they can offer a viable
future for the site, in line with the results of the public consultation.
Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Councillor Malcom Kennedy, said:- "This
is an exciting phase in the history of Liverpool's famous Bombed Out Church.
We have a great opportunity here to engage with the City to find out what they
want to happen at St Luke's, and to explore options for its future use.
Our aim is for St Luke's to be structurally safe in time for the new year, by
which time we will be in a position to outline how we plan to give it a new
lease of life."
Ambrose Reynolds, who has been running St Luke's as a public space, said:-
"It has been more than a decade since I became involved in St Luke's
re-opening it to the public. It's been amazing to see the profound effect that
it has on all different kinds of people, both as a testament to history, and its
connection to our present lives. St Luke's is a place for everyone and that is
the essence of the existing programme, to commemorate the past and celebrate the
future. We welcome this wonderful opportunity to preserve the Bombed Out Church
for the future wellbeing of the City and the people."
The public consultation comes as the City Council prepares to commence repair
works to the structure of the Church. The £150k project; funded by Liverpool
City Council and Heritage England; will involve repairing and replacing heavy
stonework, meaning the site will be closed to protect public health and safety.
The scheme was postponed earlier this year to allow the summer events programme
to go ahead. You can see a fantastic video of the site taken by us
in in June 2014 by clicking on
here
for the flash and a photo report and on
here for our
Silverlight Player video copy of the Flash video... |
