NML pays out for ‘ruining view’

National Museums Liverpool (NML) has criticised a property company for making it pay £750,000 in compensation for blocking the view of one of the city’s landmarks.

NML has paid Downing Developments for permission to build the £72m Museum of Liverpool on its own land, which is adjacent to Downing’s Port of Liverpool Building.

Downing invoked a 1963 covenant that no building nearby should be more than 40 feet high, an agreement designed to protect views of the river for the harbourmaster. The clause was invoked even though the building’s tenants are not river users.

Downing said it was approached “at the 11th hour” before development started and had negotiated a speedy settlement.

But NML director David Fleming denied that neither party had known about the covenant. He added that Downing had originally asked for “an awful lot more” than £750,000.

“It is public sector money that went straight into the pockets of private sector developers,” he said.

Fleming said the alternative would have been to build a museum “with a big slot in it”. Mersey Docks & Harbour Company had a similar covenant, according to Fleming, which it had waived immediately.

Downing said it had reached a settlement that “both parties were happy to sign” and had spent more than £10m on restoring its Grade II*-listed building.

A spokesman said: “Restrictive building covenants are granted and exist for a good reason – to protect property and those who choose to make substantial investments.”

In a letter to the Liverpool Echo, Fleming added: “If anyone thinks this is stupid, I would agree with them. Like it or not, that was the law.”