 LIVERPOOL'S dirtiest and most rundown eyesores were today named and shamed. A landmark report by business leaders demanded the city's top 100 "grotspots" were tidied up or wiped from the map. Shabby locations, scattered throughout north, south and central Liverpool, were identified during a detailed investigation of the main road and rail routes in and out of the city. They include derelict industrial units,squalid flats and shops,neglected local landmarks, and well-known problem areas like the boarded-up Gillmoss estate. Threeof the top four aresites on Edge Lane, seen by thousands of motorists driving between the city centre and M62 every day. The report, supported by Liverpool council, contains short and long-term solutions for sorting out the grotspots, including an estimated cost. Report author Business Liverpool now wants the top 20 tidied up within a year, with attention shifting to the next 20 in 2007. It said it would have ahuge impact on Liverpool's image among visitors and investors in the Capital of Culture run-up. Landowners have already been contacted by BusinessLiverpool and told to clean up their act. Mike Taylor, chief executive of Business Liverpool, said sites were chosen because of their size, location and scale of dereliction. He said: "Liverpool has lived with these blights for so long, we become immune to them. But they support visitors' misconceptions, rather than over-turn them. "We used real criteria to choose them. Which sites make people think negatively about Liverpool? Which ones would people see first when arriving for 2008? "Our solution does not mean spending £500,000. Just some hoardings or a lick of paint could do it in some cases. "Some, like Edge Lane, are part of a planned regeneration project. But something needs doing now to make people who live or travel through an area feel better." Council leader Warren Bradley said: "Quite simply, this is something we have needed to do for a long time. "The reasoning is transparent and the priorities are calculated using facts and evidence. "I have discussed with officers the sites thatfall within the council'sremit and fixed appointments with some owners to help to remove barriers that may be preventing progress." The report was today welcomed by residents in Gillmoss, number 16 on the grotspot list. John McManaman, 66, of Cockerham Way, said: "It does help when influential people get involved and our situation is publicised. "It was only when we put banners up that people driving past the estate realised it was not completely empty and people were still living here." nick.coligan@liverpool.com
THE full list of Merseyside's top 100 grot-spots - click here
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