Liverpool Council criticised for approval of tower block plan

Liverpool City Council has received criticism for approving plans for a student block tower.

Unesco has previously warned that building the 22-storey building to house 1,085 students could damage the city’s Unesco World Heritage status.

Save Britain's Heritage (SBH) has also claimed that Unesco may strip Liverpool of its status.

Henrietta Billings, director of SBH, said: "This planning approval deliberately flies in the face of serious international heritage concerns.

"Liverpool's World Heritage status is a badge of honour which is slipping through its fingers because of short-sighted planning decisions."

The site of the building, Skelhorne Street, is next to the Grade II-listed Lime Street station and is surrounded by other listed buildings and the Unesco site which includes the ‘iconic’ waterfront and Albert Dock.

A spokesperson for the council has argued: "Historic England (the government’s statutory advisor on historic environments) have concluded that this scheme would not have a harmful impact on the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site.

"We do not consider it appropriate to delay decisions on applications for major developments in the site once they have been fully assessed and are ready to be determined as this would unreasonably stifle the regeneration of the city centre."