Capital or Culture?

Ruth Heritage on filming a documentary in the Paradise Street Development Area

Liverpool city centre is undergoing massive regeneration in time for its reign as European Capital of Culture 2008. A major scheme is the Paradise Street Development Area (PSDA), run by Grosvenor Developers and the City Council.The issue has caused some controversy, we the Nerve believe it should have caused more; it would have done had those involved been open to the people of Liverpool about the full effects. In this article Ruth Heritage writes about her experience of making a documentary about the PSDA for Granada and talks with her documentary partner Olivia Greenwood about the problems of trying to get a balanced view.

The PSDA area stretches from Paradise St, up Hanover St, and across, forming a golden triangle that will become a prime retail space, effectively shifting the city centre. The 'alternative department store', Quiggins, at the core of the PSDA on School Lane, has been at the centre of some media controversy. Many small businesses in the area have been put under CPO, having to move out of the area in order for the work to take place. Quiggins, the major opponents of this type of development forced a public enquiry last November with the results of the hearing finding in favour of the developers in May. Then the deputy Prime Minister John Prescott gave the go ahead for the project.

"The capital of culture award is about boosting our ability to become a destination city, a place where tourists come because there are a variety of activities, which means they want to stay and become a part of the buzz."
Charlie Parker: Executive Director of Regeneration, Liverpool City Council

As documentary makers, Olivia (director) and myself (producer) were commissioned by Granada TV in March to put together a 'people story' about the PSDA; we went in open minded. We started to talk to everybody we could - local academics, interested parties, Grosvenor estates, Liverpool Vision - to make ourselves aware of the full facts. Or at least we tried - but we soon found out, that this is a subject where the people who were paramount at pushing it through were sometimes unreachable, elusive, and constantly politically motivated.

Whilst our attempts to get the big names of the council to talk to us - Mike Storey and David Henshaw - were sidestepped, Charlie Parker, the Executive Director of Regeneration, spoke to us on film. It seemed, by this point, that the developers were concerned about gauging the public's reception of the PSDA in light of the ongoing hearing.

"Paradise Street retail development is actually 2 million square foot of mixed use development, which means that just over a million square foot is on retail. It's 42 acres of land right in the heart of the city centre, and its worth somewhere between 750 & 800 million pounds. It creates a unique offer, because what we've got here is very different, it's the next generation of retail shopping."
Charlie Parker, LCC

How did you feel, Olivia, about some of these issues?

"One thing I found whilst going through the process of making the film was that I feel that the film can make a positive difference. It seems that the people in Liverpool have been fed a yarn by the media that's come through the council, that Quiggins' is the bad guy. For example, people have said 'I thought the council had offered Quiggins George Henry Lees and Quiggins were being difficult'. I think we've uncovered that it's very much not the truth of the situation, and I hope that the film will help put the other side of the story."

When we tried to speak to the Council and Grosvenor what I found was that people were giving us loads of conflicting information. What's your take on that?

"Well first of all they weren't that keen to talk to us. They were cynical about our motives, and maybe quite rightly so. But we were looking for both sides of the story. Having said that, when talking to Grosvenor the people we spoke to were quite surprisingly forthright. They said things that I hadn't expected them to say."

Like the 100 year rent-free lease?

"Yes, Guy Butler (Grosvenor) talked to us about the fact that there were some deals with some of the major anchor stores whereby they would get their rent free for up to 100 years. I was quite surprised how free they were with their information.
"We tried to get the Council to reiterate that but every time I posed the question - in various ways - we just hit a brick wall. 'I don't know of any rent-free periods…but there are some rent-free periods'. They were very evasive with their answers."

Charlie Parker said: 'Most of the rent-free periods, for want of a better description, will be around transition. I know of no rent-free period of up to a hundred years. If we're going to upgrade the offer it's inevitable that at some stage we'll get improved rents. Now for some businesses that would mean they would come to Liverpool. However we wouldn't say that everybody needs to be a zone rental target.'

He seems to be suggesting that some stores would be getting 'deals' on their rent whilst other, non-'zone rental target' stores would not.

So why do you think that Grosvenor wouldn't speak to us on camera?

"I think if I put myself in Grosvenor's shoes that was the savvy way to deal with the situation. Grosvenor is a private company so they can essentially say 'no comment'. But I think the council have to comment about a situation they are involved in; they are representing the people of Liverpool, so I don't think they can really deny an interview."

What do you think about trying to make a political documentary with the ideas we had in research, in the context of Granada broadcast?

"Actually, it wasn't difficult, because I think we just made the film that we wanted to make, and then Granada came in. They wanted to make a few changes but they were to give Charlie Parker more of a chance to establish himself before making comments which make him appear the 'evil' character, which I think we did quite well, we gave him plenty of chance to talk up front. Other than that we were trying to be a little more subtle, film-studenty about our approach to the film, and Granada wanted it bang up front. I think that helps the viewer get straight into it because there is a lot of information throughout the film. We give them the facts early on."
Essentially it's a 'people story' because that's what Granada wanted, but at the same time it's a 'people story' because the argument between Quiggins, the businesses affected by the PSDA CPO's, and the developers is a story about people behind business, the small traders in the city which are being shunted out of the way in order to draw high-end retailers and shopping tourists into the city.

Finally, what were your views on the PSDA & the Capital of Culture when we started the process, and have they changed?

"I'm generally an open minded person and I didn't know a lot about it when we started out, but I think, like most other people, I'd been fed this story through the media, so that was where my thinking started out. I didn't necessarily believe it but that's where I was - 'are Quiggins the bad guy in all of this, let's go and find out'.
"In terms of the PSDA and the Capital of Culture - they're 2 different things. The PSDA - there are definite benefits to Liverpool - I can understand all this stuff about we're the 17th shopping city and we should be 3rd, but it's at the complete exclusion of anything which is different. It could have been a good thing but it probably won't be and my worry is that Grosvenor's got the lease for 250 years but we don't know what will happen in 10 years. The chances are that it might head west, the boom will go after 2008, the businesses will leave and we'll be left with unmentionable buildings. The other part of the PSDA which worries me is the Grosvenor quartermasters treating it like the Trafford Centre although it's outdoors, with Grosvenor effectively policing and not allowing protestors, vagrants and anyone they don't like the look of. It might not be me, because maybe I don't come across that threateningly, but it could be plenty of other people.

In terms of the Capital of Culture, I think that the name of the film just sums it up. It's been a choice - they chose capital over culture and they're using culture to get capital.

'Capital or Culture?' was shown on Granada TV on 23th of August