LIVERPOOL Vision, one of the UK's first urban regeneration companies, is today hailed for fast-tracking the transformation of Liverpool city centre.
The billion-pound makeover would have been slower and more fragmented without the influence of Liverpool Vision, a government-backed report reveals.
Last night Jim Gill, Vision's chief executive, said major commercial developments are up to four years ahead because of the work and influence of the agency.
He said the Vision formula, which has helped drive forward the RopeWalks area plan, and the scheme for the Kings Dock arena, will help the Government formulate a template for the rest of the country.
The report comes despite widespread criticism of Vision's role in the collapsed Fourth Grace project in which it took the lead, and the views of many leading city figures, including former council leader Mike Storey, that the involvement of too many quangos has caused delays in key projects.
Vision was set up in 1999 by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott as a new way of speeding up the transformation of major cities.
The aim was to bring local politicians, agency chiefs and business leaders together under a single umbrella body to spearhead major projects.
An independent study to be published tomorrow , carried out for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, says the new-look city centre would not have been as ambitious without the work and influence of Liverpool Vision.
Vision brought an independent and "can-do" approach to design and developments, and was able to operate as a "no axe to grind" agency, says the report.
But it now wants Vision to revisit its strategic mission plan to take Liverpool and the wider city region forward beyond 2008 when the city will be European Capital of Culture.
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