A £5.5bn redevelopment of Liverpool's docklands that will dramatically alter the Merseyside skyline is set to begin after it was waved through by the government, despite warnings that it puts in jeopardy the city's prized Unesco world heritage site status.
The Liverpool Waters project includes 9,000 apartments, hundreds of offices, hotels, bars and a new cruise terminal on 60 acres of derelict dockland. The Peel group also wants to build two clusters of skyscrapers, including a 55-storey tower, which would become the tallest building in north-west England.
Liverpool city council initially granted planning permission for the scheme – which officials say will create 20,000 jobs – in March 2012, with conditions on timescale, the heights of buildings and phasing of works, and it was formally submitted to the Department for Communities and Local Government in October.
The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, wrote to the council on Monday to say he would not "call in" the project for a public inquiry as it was a decision best taken by Liverpool's councillors – effectively giving a green light for bulldozers to move in on the north bank of the Mersey, formerly known as Central Docks.
Liverpool Waters: artist's impression of the view at night. Photograph: Rust Design But the scale of the regeneration project – in particular the cloud-bursting central Shanghai Tower – has left Unesco, the body that bestowed world heritage site status on Liverpool's waterfront in 2004, unimpressed. It has placed Liverpool on its danger list and a delegation of inspectors visited the site in November.
The inspectors' report, which will be considered by an independent committee in June, noted that Liverpool city council was inclined to grant consent to the project and "expressed serious concern at the potential threat of the proposed development of Liverpool Waters on the outstanding universal value of the property". The committee has the option of striking Liverpool off the list immediately or giving the UK government a chance to intervene.
However, Liverpool's civic leaders are ebullient about what such a high-profile scheme means for the city in the context of the UK's flatlining economy. The mayor, Joe Anderson, said: "This is fantastic news for Liverpool. I'm absolutely delighted that the secretary of state shares the confidence we have in our ability to deliver this vitally important regeneration scheme, while protecting our architectural heritage.
"Liverpool Waters will create thousands of jobs and opportunities for local people, as well as providing new housing and attracting new businesses and visitors.
"It's a huge boost for our city and yet more evidence that despite the recession, regeneration is forging ahead here. We can now look forward to the plans moving forward on this once-in-a-lifetime scheme which will bring huge, lasting benefits to future generations in this city."
Peel's development director Lindsey Ashworth said: "This is a well-deserved reward and justice for all those who never gave up supporting this scheme … English Heritage together with the World Heritage Body Unesco put up massive obstacles to prevent this development proposal getting permission.
"Their studies and arguments have all collapsed and rightly so as it's simply not right to expect derelict parts of cities with such a rich history to stand still and be fossilised.
"This consent will open up opportunities and new prospects to link our UK businesses with other international businesses such as Asia. All cities in the UK have to compete with each other and each has to compete with rival European cities. Liverpool is now well placed to be alongside the best of the best."
A spokesman from the communities department said: "Ministers' general approach is not to interfere with the jurisdiction of local planning authorities. Ministers have carefully considered all the relevant planning issues raised by the application and have concluded that they are content to leave the decision to the local planning authority who are best placed to determine the application."
Artist's impression of Princes Dock under the Liverpool Waters redevelopment. Photograph: Rust Design Liverpool's world heritage site officially stretches from Albert Dock, which has the largest collection of Grade I listed buildings in the UK, along the Pier Head and up to Stanley Dock. It takes in the elegant Edwardian "three graces": the Royal Liver, Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings, which have defined the view from the Mersey for almost a century.
Dresden lost its world heritage site status in 2009 after building a motorway bridge over the river Elbe. It was only the second site to be removed from the Unesco world heritage list, which includes cultural landmarks such as the Great Wall of China and the leaning Tower of Pisa.
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