2016 Yearbook

28 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 6 on board, including the Baltic Creative, a community interest company (or CIC). The Baltic Creative had seen the potential in the Baltic area and acquired property. The organisation aims to promote high quality sustainable growth. Professional planning support and advice was provided by Urban Vision Enterprise CIC, which specialises in neighbourhood planning and heritage- led regeneration and economic development. The process for putting together a neighbourhood forum is challenging and often chaotic. Engage Liverpool arranged a programme of meetings, publicity and engagement to encourage the creation of a forum. Key issues raised in the meetings and workshops by residents and businesses were the need to maintain the Baltic Triangle’s role as a place for creative enterprises, the threat posed by ill- considered alterations and loss of historic buildings, and the poor design quality of new residential and student blocks in the area. Engage’s involvement stems from its aim to give real power to the people living and working in the area to make decisions about how that area could be improved and developed. There had been debate within the neighbourhood about its future direction and whether the newly arrived and very successful Baltic Creative would be able to expand and continue its good work. There was also concern over the granting of planning permission for student accommodation developments. This galvanised many in the area, who attended meetings to look at how the planning process could be influenced. Engage had wanted to initiate a neighbourhood planning process earlier, but had experienced strong political opposition from some (but not all) of the ward councillors and scepticism from some local stakeholders. Partnership working was always critical for Engage, which began conversations with various local organisations. This included working with the University of Liverpool to involve postgraduate students to do some research in the area, help to deliver publicity leaflets and deliver a scoping report. Challenges in engaging the community included the transient nature of a proportion of the residential population. It was easier engaging with businesses due to monthly Baltic Stakeholder gatherings. Some landowners were opposed to the proposed neighbourhood plan due to concerns over possible policy restrictions, though it was explained that the plan could also liberalise land-use policies. This is a real option for the commercial core. For forum-led plans, it is necessary to identify the neighbourhood area to which the neighbourhood plan will apply. This was made somewhat easier in the Baltic Triangle by the fact that there was already a recognised ‘Baltic’ area in Liverpool Vision’s Liverpool City Centre Strategic Investment Framework. A business area was designated in the autumn of 2015. Neighbourhood plans are subject to an independent examination and then require a majority ‘yes’ vote in a referendum of people on the electoral register. The designation of a business area has the effect of creating a second referendum for local businesses. The process of physical and economic transformation in the Baltic Triangle is already under way, including the refurbishment of derelict historic buildings. The activities of the Baltic Creative and other enterprises have helped to trigger physical and economic regeneration, including interest from a number of residential developers. The area is recognised as a focus for creative and alternative venues and enterprises, including pop-up bars, microbreweries, and alternative culture. As in many such areas, there is a diverse range of both private and not-for-profit sector organisations active in the area. This is resulting in a steady increase in land values, which is useful in terms of making vacant and derelict historic buildings more viable for investment and refurbishment. Redevelopment in the Baltic Triangle area has been hampered at times by a combination of poor new-build design and poor conversion. The building at the left-hand end of the central block, in blue engineering brick, uses good quality materials but is architecturally uninspiring. The conversion at the right-hand end of the block has been marred by the addition of modern windows and other features which take little account of the original fabric.