North West: Halfway to paradise

The area around Liverpool's famous Paradise Street has been earmarked for a huge shopping development.

Paradise Street Development is being funded by Grosvenor Estates

But the council backed plan is meeting stiff opposition from some existing traders.

The Politics Show hears how the £750 million regeneration scheme has stirred up strong feelings in the city.

The Paradise Street Development is being funded by Grosvenor Estates, which is owned by Britain's richest man, the Duke of Westminster.

It would transform a run down part of central Liverpool, with 1m square feet of new retail space, as well as new streets, public squares, leisure amenities and residential development.

It aims to attract the biggest High Street names.

Local fashion store owner Robert Wade-Smith welcomes the new investment. Mr Wade- Smith said;

Liverpool has lagged behind places like Manchester, the Trafford Centre and Chester as a retail destination.

The Grosvenor scheme will make the city much more competitive in attracting shoppers.

But the plans have been condemned by traders at Quiggins, a building threatened with demolition.

Quiggins is home to 40 alternative businesses, including booksellers, bric-a-brac stores and hairdressers.

They claim at least 50,000 people have signed a Save Quiggins petition.

Protestors have been lobbying the planning enquiry.

The civil liberties group Liberty object to plans to use so-called quartermasters to provide security in the new Paradise Streets development.

Liberty say it amounts to the privatisation of on-street policing. Liverpool City Council leader Mike Storey responds to the critics in Politics Show North West.

Also on Politics Show North West

Forensic examination

TV shows like the BBC's Silent Witness here have made forensic science glamorous.

But for some real forensic experts in the North West the future is uncertain.

240 staff at the Forensic Science Service laboratories in Chorley are objecting to a plan to convert the service from a Government agency to a Public/Private Partnership (PPP).

The local MP, Labour's Lindsey Hoyle, told MPs that says that amounted to privatisation;

Privatisation would affect a highly skilled work force that serves five police constabularies with a dedication and commitment to the public sector ethos that is second to none.

Primary colours

Tories in Warrington are preparing to host the UK's first-ever US style primary election to choose a Conservative candidate to contest Warrington South at the next General Election.

Anyone in the constituency, be they Conservative or Communist, can register to choose between three short-listed candidates.

The selection meeting takes place on Wednesday 12 November 2003, in Warrington's Parr Hall.

That's The Politics Show

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