Virtually every time some new development is suggested in the Canning area there is a set of almost prescripted cries of "no more student pods, we need real houses", "we are overcrowded enough", "think of the environment" with usually a tag on "what we really need is a car park". I disagree with all of them, some of them are even contradictory.
The area's population is way below its peak in the first half of the 20th C. Large areas have been demolished and handed over to the Univesity, building dedicated student housing frees up the "houses of multiple occupation" that they currently live in. The lack of population is what caused most of the local amenities to fade and die.
If you want to protect the environment you need fewer cars, not more car parks, you live in the centre of a city specifically for convenience, learn to walk. Chopping down older trees and replacing them with younger has benefits in that trees absorb carbon as the grow, not when they are mature.
One of the other complaints is "they are all the same", well if you look at Regency buildings you will notice that one of the stylistic touches is repeated symmetrical patterns, in other words, they are all the same. A lot of the newer residents go on about the architectural aspects of the area but they actually seem blind to them, is it that the area is just trendy and they can see no further than the construction date?
Then
The
National Library of Scotland side by side Historic and modern map shows how the area was different the Georgian terraces carried on across Myrtle street and joined the ones now in the Unversity. The picture bellow is taken possibly from Chesnut street, looking north.
On the west side of Mulberry street was the Royal Liverpool Children's hospital, which closed in 1990, which has since been replaced by a Liverpool Comunity College building on the east side stood a building associated Fetal & Infant Toxico-Pathology unit at Liverpool University.
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| Royal Liverpool Children's |
The
Alderhey organ retention scandal finally led to the demolition of the of the finally buildings on the opposite side of Mulberry street, around 2000
Now
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| The red area marks the site. |
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| The fence at the southern boundary. |
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| New wall from Mullberry |
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| Looking a bit more north. |
Future
If there is one place which could become a carpark, it is just north of the junction of Mulberry and Myrtle, on the east side. In the historic map, it is marked as a solid black square just north of a Bench Mark on Myrtle street. A small 3 storey could fit on the site or the currently grassed area could simply be
grasscreted over, perhaps with a few more trees.
Who is going to run this car park and for who is a more difficult question? It is on University land, so at the very least they are going to want a cut of the revenue and a number of slots, they already have a car park a bit further east on Myrtle, there is also a car park further along outside Tesco, though that is currently half size as some building as put up.
But you do have to ask what type of person wants a car park in Canning, the traditional inhabitants have not wanted one, those who like living in cities don't usually want one as the joy of city living is everything is close by. Those people calling for a car park should perhaps ask themselves is Canning the place for you, would you perhaps be happier out in the suburbs?
I wouldn't object to this site being developed but I can think of better uses for it than a car park. So those of you who want a car park in canning. Get your act together and go off and see the university and try and do a deal with them, you might even get to use some of their current car parks out of hours, or would that be too far to walk?
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