Kings Dock

Blue Kipper has been involved with the "Everton for Kings Dock" movement from the start.

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KINGS DOCK SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY
A SHORT INTERVIEW WITH JOE DWYER OF LIVERPOOL VISION
2nd SEPTEMBER 2002
By
Mickey Blue Eyes.

A telephone conversation at 11.45 a.m. on Monday, 2nd September 2002, somewhat dents the misery of Merseyside's tiny Melledrew Tendency. You know, the ones stoked up by the Daily Post and Echo last Friday. It shouldn't be necessary to swat a fly with a television set but sometimes you want to do it for the sheer hell of it.

The following are my personal conclusions, not Joe Dwyer's, drawn from a twenty-five minutes long discussion with the chairman of Liverpool Vision.

1. The project is alive and well and will proceed if all parties get their fingers out and carry out their commitments. The participants remain quite optimistic. But we are now very close to the cut-off point, one way or the other.

2. This includes the three parties other than Houston Securities. That is, English Partnerships, North West Development Agency and Liverpool City Council.

3. EVERYBODY now has to put up - or shut up and send the site back to square one.

4. The moment Liverpool Vision feel the project is moribund they will say so publicly. There is absolutely no point in dragging it out further. Nobody gains.

5. Paul Gregg has to get his part sorted pronto. If he fails to do it between now and Christmas the likelihood is the project will fail. LV have not made static demands on the terms and conditions of Paul Gregg's guarantee. The door is open for mutual agreement, as it always has been.

6. Houston Securities were granted succeeding extensions to "preferred bidder" status from last Spring. This was deemed desirable because of the quality of the project and the opportunity it represents for regeneration of the city.

7. Assuming funding and agreement in place, the planning application will now slip into the first couple of months of next year. LV are still confident this will enable completion in May 2006.

8. The EO1 application is ready now. But it will be submitted at the same time as the planning application. This money will be paid to the contractor in the early contract valuations to ensure it doesn't fall outside the tranche period which terminates in 2006.

9. *NOTE: When the European Community enlarges its numbers this amount of funding will never again be available. It HAS to be used. Therefore, anybody who obstructs its use will be responsible for loss of jobs and development opportunities which our city badly needs. This has been explained to local politicians in detail. Some of those who did not support the scheme have now changed their minds.

10. Bovis are still on board as construction management consultants and maintain the fixed price element of the stadium/arena.

11. Bovis Lend Lease are NOT out of the picture as private partners for non-stadium elements. Talks continue. Talks also continue with Neptune Developments.

So there you have it yet again. Except this time everybody has to start engaging in grown-up talk instead of posturing. And they have to do it quickly or go the same way as Wembley and Picketts Lock and any number of other similar projects. The very individuals who keep telling us they want social regeneration and iconic projects which impart a sense of pride are now in a position to deliver. ALL OF THEM have to play their part, otherwise it will be just so much hot air. That includes Paul Gregg and, by association with Houston Securities, the other board members at Everton Football Club.

If the project fails it will be a genuine tragedy for our city, for our region and not least for our football club. Manchester showed the way with the Commonwealth Games Stadium, a great and glorious success. They won and won well and are to be congratulated for it.

There is absolutely no reason why our city should do any less well. If the Kings Dock project fails we will have lost a once in a lifetime opportunity for the kind of project which has helped galvanise cities like Cleveland.

And those who stood by or did their best to undermine the project will be only two of the guilty parties. You can be sure these are precisely the same kind of people who complain about the standard of living in our city and in our region.

Whatever happens, it will have been well worth the effort. Genuine attempts to deliver excellence always are. (02/09/02)