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Liverpool's Water Based Legacy - The Jewels in the Crown

The city of Liverpool inherited a brilliant legacy of redundant intertwining docks and waterways - the largest, finest, enclosed, interconnected, built of granite dock system in the world. Many have compared the dock system to the building of the pyramids. The docks and waterspaces are the jewels in Liverpool's crown - the future of the city, based on its past. The docks and quays are ready to create an Amsterdam, a Hamburg, a Venice of North Western Europe. A legacy every other city in Europe would drool over. This legacy is being squandered.

Docks so Unique World Heritage Status was Assigned

Liverpool docks were considered so historically important to the industrial revolution and populating the New World, UNESCO awarded World Heritage Status to sections of the interconnected docks and waterways.

UNESCO state: "Many of the former docks survive to the form of now redundant water bodies. These are an important aspect of the Site's significance and character and their conservation and use requires consideration within future sustainable regeneration schemes."

Would We Destroy The Pyramids?

The enclosed interconnected Liverpool docks in magnitude and construction is akin to the pyramids - American writer Herman Melville, amongst others, noted this. This magnificent feat of engineering, built into the river bed, is slowly being destroyed by systematic irresponsible infilling. Most of this in-flling is clearly to create land for private profit.

Liverpool Docks Populated the New World

More emigrants departed from Liverpool than any other port in the populating of the New World - the largest migration of people in history. Liverpool docks are the counterpart of the piers of the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Ellis Island - two historical sites valued and preserved by the USA. The United Nations descibed Liverpool Docks as being of “universal human significance”. Liverpool is custodian of these docks which are of world importance in the history of mankind.

Docks and Waterways Disappearing at an Alarming Rate

This unique dock waterway creation has been disappearing at an alarming rate. In the past few decades: Herculaneum, Harrington, Toxteth, parts of Queens, Kings, Dukes, Victoria and Trafalgar Docks have been filled in. Many of these docks date from the 1700s. Half of the South End Docks and large sections of Central Docks have been filled in. A vast water acreage, larger than many major ports in the world, has disappeared. The Wirral has lost large acres of water space at Bidston, Wallasey, Morpeth Branch and Bromborough Docks.

City On The Water Promised

After the success of the Albert Dock preservation and conversion to residential and leisure facilities, the people of Liverpool were promised a city on the water. A water centric city, with the population living within the waterscape in high quality developments, centering the city around the renovated historic docks and waterspaces. Little of this promise has been realised. Far too much emphasis has been to develop the dock waterspaces for commercial activities rather than accomodate people who would make the waterspaces vibrant raising the quality of life. At the current rate of dock infill there will be little left of any historic water to build around. An easily realised dream is being shattered.

Lack of Strategy Assists in Water Space Disappearance

The total lack of a firm strategy directing the dock water spaces and river waterfront, is responsible for the disappearance of large swathes of dock water spaces over the past three decades. UNESCO criticised the city for not having a master plan in place for the dock water spaces. The city has been devalued in many ways because of lack of foresight. A strategy protecting the water spaces and outlining the future usages and look and feel of the docks water spaces is urgently needed. Otherwise, it is constant needless iterations of developers proposing dock in-fills to make fast bucks generating land and campaigns to stop it.

Below: Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks in 1972. Liverpool docks stretched for over 7.5 miles (12 kilometres). Birkenhead Docks, where E Float and W Float are on the map, move inland and end at Bidston Moss. .