Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Patrick Edrich

Woman 'ashamed' to live next to 'mess' at stalled Chinatown development

A woman who lives opposite the stalled Chinatown development said she's "embarrassed" to see the mess everyday.

Irene Lloyd-Jones has lived in Chinatown her whole life, and in her home opposite the site of the new Chinatown development for 30 years.

But the 74-year-old said she's now "embarrassed" to live within view of the development as the weather has pulled down the fences revealing the mess inside.

READ MORE: Quiet residential street rocked after gunshot hits house

Ms Lloyd-Jones told the ECHO gangs of children are often found trespassing inside the site causing trouble.

She said she won't leave the house late at night to walk her dog over fears of running into groups of people who are attracted to the site.

Ms Lloyd-Jones added the wasteland has also become a dumping ground for rubbish - with images seen by the ECHO revealing piles of tyres, broken concrete slabs and dilapidated fencing littering the ground.

Ms Lloyd-Jones told the ECHO : "I feel ashamed to be honest - I don't know why nobody seems to be doing anything.

"I'm concerned for myself as I've got to live surrounded by it and these homes aren't cheap.

"I'm embarrassed to live opposite the site - it's just a mess.

"I don't know what to do next."

Ms Lloyd-Jones told the ECHO she has appealed to the Liverpool City Council for help with the matter.

The ECHO contacted the council in regard to the stalled development but was told the council would leave it to the developers to comment.

Liverpool's New Chinatown scheme has been surrounded by disputes and controversy since the scheme was first unveiled by the Chinatown Development Company in 2015.

The site was taken over by Great George Street Developments in 2018 who proposed plans to deliver hundreds of new homes and shops on the land near the Anglican Cathedral

But nearly four years on the site remains empty while the developers look to enable how to move forward.

Ms Lloyd-Jones said today she has been awake since the early hours due to the noise from the fencing being pulled down in the winds of Storm Franklin.

She said: "I've been kept awake since 4am because of the noise of the fence panelling coming down.

"When people come down here they must think it's gone downhill.

"It's a shame really what's happened to the area since this site went up.

"There were flats there before which they tore down for the development - they'd have been better leaving them.

"I was made up when I got to move here with my nice little garden. Now with this site it's just no good."

A spokesperson for the Great George Streets Developments told the ECHO : "We accept that the site has fallen into disrepair.

"We can confirm that we have made our best efforts to maintain the site in an orderly fashion whilst we are still in negotiations with LCC to settle the Tomlin Order to enable us to progress with the development of the site.

"We envisage that matters will continue to progress for another 6-8 weeks before we are in a position to look to enable on site and move forward with the development.

"We are grateful to the regeneration team at LCC for engaging with us and assisting us in progressing matters to a satisfactory conclusion and we look forward to delivering a project that we hope will improve matters for all local residents."

Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.