The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-30 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL rarp R OVEMENTS.

Tun sub-committee appointed to investigate the subject
of improvements rendered necessary in the streets and
leading thoroughfares of the -town, by the increased and
still rapidly increasing traffic of the port, have presented
their report to the genel.al committee appointed at the
town's meeting held in June last ; and, with consistent
propiety, the report has been printed, and widely dis-
tributed. Whether its recommendations are fully
carried into effect, or are only partially adopted, the
report is a valuable public document, 'and bears creditable
testimony to the zeal and judgment by which the parties
preparing it have been actuated ; while in a scarcely less
eminent degree does it redound to the honour of the com-
munity that a committee so popularly .constituted as the
one referred to, should possess and exercise the •nerve re-
quisite to look a subject of such magnitude and novelty
boldly in the face. That the recommendations of the
committee should, in every instance, be the very best that
could be suggested, is more than could reasonably have been
hoped for ; and that its plans should meet with universal
approbation was more than even the most sanguine of its
supporters could dream of. Independently of such draw-
backs as are to be met with in individual or sectional disap-
probation, the report possesses one redeeming qualification
which should establish for it the cordial sympathy of the
inhabitants of Liverpool. it recognises the importance
of a complete system of thoroughfares, by which the traffic
of the town can be carried on without conflict between
what may be termed the longitudinal and transverse cur-
rents ; and that those conduits of traffic shall be so ar-
ranged as to admit of a ready fusion of their respective
currents without disorder, and that these may be allowed
to glide along with the smallest possible impediment, be-
yond the difficulties imposed by the natural peculiarities
of the locality ; while these difficulties it recommends to be
reduced to their minimum extent, by widening and
straightening the streets, and so accommodating their levels
to each other as to constitute the easiest means of convey-
ing the east and west traffic, without interruption to
that existing between the north and south. Oue
chief point of value in the report is its advocacy of
whatever is done being done on a general principle, and
with an eye to a uniform plan. The report contains sug-
gestions for twenty-eight separate improvement, v ery many
of them consisting of the widening and straightening of
leading streets, which, in .their original construction, have
seemingly been built as whim or accident dictated, and the
necessity for these improvements could easily have been
avoided, if general street lines had been adopted and
enforced. This will be more readily understood by a
reference to the proposed improvement of Church-
street, the whole south side of which from Paradise-street
to Hanover-street, the committee recommend to be
taken down and thrown back so far as to bring
the new frontage into a line with the north-east
corner of St. Peter's Church; thus
giving Church-
street the same width as Lord-street. Again, in reference
to Bold-street, which is on all hands admittedly too nsr•
row for its traffic and Importance, the committee suggest
the demolition of the whole of its north side from end to

end, and throwing back the line of buildings so far as to
make them occupy the site of the Arcade. While devoting
much care to the present condition and future susceptibi-
lities of the localities named, the committee have by no
means confined their attention, or limited their observa-
tions to them, but have extended their researches into all
the districts of the town. The report embraces valuable
suggestions for improving the means of communication
by reconstructing the lines of streets, or opening up new
lines of approach from the north and from the south ends
of the town, including Great Howard-street, Vauxhall-
road, Tithebarn-street, the formation of a new street in
continuation of St. Anne-street and Cazneau-street to
Scotland-road, considerably widening both the streets
named; improved lines of communication between Tox-
teth-park and Kensington ; between St. James's-street,
Park-lane, and Castle-street ; widening and improving
Hanover-street, Paradise-street, and Whitechapel ; im-
proving :the connexion between Williamson-square, and
Dale-street by widening the existing lines and extending
them by a new street through Temple-court to Moorfields;
and by a modified recommendation of Mr. Sumner's plan
for the connexion of Dale-street with St. George's Hall.
These may be taken as indications of the fearless spirit in
which the committee have contemplated the task committed
to their care ; they involve, no doubt, the certainty of great
outlay and the sacrifice • of much valuable property, but
also include the certainty of vastly increasing the public
convenience, and by such means improving the aggregate
and ultimate value of the public property.

"If (says the committee) the whole of the improvements
suggested in this report be adopted, the additional area
gained to the public use (exclusive of the alterations
around St. George's-hall, and the new routes from Dale-
street to Great Howard-street) amounts to nearly 335,000
square yards ; of which 61,000 square yards are within the
parish of Liverpool, and for the most part built over.
The remaining 274,000 square yards consist in a great
measure of vacant land. Your committee conceive that
the first-named quantity of land may be obtained for an
outlay of £450,000 to £600,000, and the latter quantity at
a cost of £340,000 to £520,000; making a total outlay of
from £790,000 to £1,000,000, besides the cost of con-
struction."

That these recommendations will be entirely adopted,
and fully carried out, is scarcely to be looked for ; but
their value to the community is not to be estimated by the
' extent to which they may be carried out—that will be
found also in a great degree in the importance of connected
system and general plan which the report enforces in
terms more eloquent than words or arguments could
convey. We have here the startling fact, that, omitting
system and proceeding at a sort of random pace, the con-
dition
of the town has become so intricate and impracticable,
that it will require £1,000,000 to be expended in order to
put us in a position which we ought never to have been
out of. Such a fact speaks trumpet-tongued, calling
loudly for cautious deliberation ere adopting any resolu-
tion; but, having adopted a carefully digested plan, let
that be adhered to with rigour and carried out with spirit,
even although only piecemeal in its mode of execution.