An opposition motion urges the city council to ensure the decades-old centre isn’t hampered by new school
Merseyside Caribbean Council Community Centre.(Pic Andrew Teebay).(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
A much-loved and “vital” African Caribbean centre on the edge of Liverpool city centre should be protected amid plans for a new girls’ school, it has been argued. Amid a vociferous campaign earlier this year, Liverpool Council agreed the site for a girls school in Toxteth that had initially threatened to displace the existing centre.
A 125-year lease was granted to the Department of Education (DfE) and Star Academies for the development of a new school on approximately four acres of land around Upper Parliament Street, Mulgrave Street and Selborne Street. Board trustees said they would not accept any loss of land to allow for the school to be built.
More than 5,500 people signed a petition calling for the centre to be retained after it was revealed in February it could be moved to make way for the school. Now opposition members want Liverpool Council to make good on their pledge to ensure the centre can remain in situ.
Merseyside Caribbean Community Centre.(Pic Andrew Teebay).(Image: Andrew Teebay/Liverpool Echo)
A motion has been laid down ahead of next week’s full meeting of Liverpool Council by the Liberal Democrats calling on members to back their call that “any further proposals that would see more of the African Caribbean Centre’s site reduced or amenity lost is unacceptable, and should be reconsidered.”
In the spring, Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of the city council, said the African Caribbean community had “sent a clear message that they want it to remain on the current site, and the council shares that commitment.”
Campaigners gathered outside Liverpool Town Hall in support of the African Caribbean Centre
The motion added: “The representatives of the African Caribbean community have made clear their support for having a new school built but that this should not come at the cost of being displaced from their current site, where they’ve been for over 50 years.”
It calls upon officials to look into how the city can maintain and improve the existing centre during the development of the new school.
The motion, laid down by Cllr Carl Cashman, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, calls on councillors to back proposals to ask the cabinet and officers to work with the community to arrange a public meeting in Liverpool 8 to listen and address the community’s concerns and begin an open dialogue.
Merseyside Caribbean Council Community Centre.(Pic Andrew Teebay).(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
It also wants members to push the leadership to ensure that no further land, or movement of the basketball court will be required from the African Caribbean Centre.
In May, trustees at the centre said they were seeking legal representation “to ensure the community asset remains wholly intact and agreements are done so in the best interest of the centre and community” alongside launching an archival project to secure the centre’s story in history.