Opinion maker: Mike Taylor on keeping the creative sector happy

By Tony McDonough on Mar 29, 08 08:59 PM

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WITH the ongoing transformation and regeneration of the city centre, there is a chance that some small creative businesses could get squeezed out.

We want to promote regeneration in the Baltic Triangle area of the city and champion our high-growth creative businesses.

The area, which stretches from Wapping to Parliament Street and includes Park Road and St James Street, already hosts organisations including the New Picket and the Novas Contemporary Urban Centre.

Merseyside ACME is working closely with organisations including Business Liverpool and Liverpool Vision to transform the Baltic Triangle area into a new creative hub for the city's thriving creative sector. We think there's a real opportunity there.

Proposals to create a new trust to help small firms secure business premises in the area are now at an advanced stage.

This month will see the completion of a consultation on the plans and the indications we have had so far are that this is a really strong proposal.

The business plan is to have a creative industries trust that can own the buildings they do business in.

It's about these firms having a degree of security in their tenancies, which has been a big problem afflicting the sector in the past.

It's not about providing giveaway rents, but a strategy to nurture and secure the future of these businesses and make sure they don't get displaced by other developments such as high-value residential projects.

It's about encouraging the mixed developments we want to see thriving versus the commercial imperative to 'get that return'.

Placing ownership with the trust removes the potential threat of high-value developments. It will be a great way to ensure that our growing creative sector plays a key role in the city's transformation.

Mike Taylor, Chief executive of BusinessLiverpool