Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Toxteth people fear "legalised theft" of homes

Ciara Leeming | 06.04.2007 18:10 | Free Spaces | Other Press | Social Struggles | Liverpool

Residents of the Granby Triangle fear they will be forced to sell up to Lovell - the council's chosen developer for £27m urban renewal scheme - whether their homes are down for demolition or not. First published in the Big Issue (1/4/07)

RESIDENTS of a Toxteth renewal zone fear they may be forced out of their homes – even if their properties are spared the bulldozer.
People living in the Granby triangle claim they are being squeezed out of the area by the Liverpool Council and a private developer, regardless of whether their houses are earmarked for demolition or simply “remodelling”.
Under council plans, Ducie, Jermyn, Cairns and Beaconsfield Streets are all up for renewal. A £27m project, still in its early stages, would see some terraces knocked down and replaced and others refurbished to create a development of 235 homes.
Building company Lovell has been appointed to carry out the scheme and an update report will be presented to the council executive over the coming months.
But locals, many of whom are members of the Granby Residents’ Association, claim they were warned that all properties must be owned by the developer before work goes ahead.
If true, any compulsory buy-up of houses would be based on the market value. Residents fear that with more than half the properties standing empty, and many falling into poor repair, prices would be low.
Property values following regeneration would increase massively, putting the new homes out of reach of most current residents.
Liverpool Council says discussions are still underway over “viability issues” and that no decision has yet been made.
But angry residents have vowed to fight any attempt to take their houses and blame the council for letting the area descend into a state of neglect.
Eleanor Lee, a Cairns Street for more than 30 years, said: “It’s is nothing short of legalised theft. If my house was down for refurbishment I’d be happy to fit in with their plans for its exterior. But that’s not enough.
“They want all properties vacant and in their possession. We will be forced to sell up and if we still want to live here – and can afford it – afterwards we’ll have to buy back at the going rate, which most of us can’t afford.”
Over recent years, more and more properties on the streets have become vacant as housing associations move their tenants away.
On Cairns Street less than 10 out of 60 homes are now occupied, and many of the empty buildings are in bad condition.
While campaigners admit some demolition is inevitable, they want more involvement in the plans.
They claim many terraces could be made structurally sound and fitted with central heating, double glazing and solar panels for about £30,000 each – far lower than the cost of replacement.
A spokesman for Liverpool Council said: “A Liverpool City Council spokesman said: “The total value of money that is proposed to be spent in the four Granby streets is £27m to build or refurbish 235 homes.
“But we are aware that a number of people are concerned about the affordability of some properties so we are exploring the possibility of alternative methods which could enable owners to retain ownership through equity gap finding or an arrangement, such as Artloan or Homebuy, based on the increase in the value of the property.
"This would save legal costs and guarantees the resident their existing home being returned back to them in a completely refurbished state.”
Paul Hulme, Lovell’s regional director, added: “This scheme is still at very early stages. We are currently in negotiations with the council with the aim of reaching a positive solution for people living in the area.”

Ciara Leeming
- Homepage: http://www.ciaraleeming.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

it's happening all over the city

08.04.2007 19:19

Similer things that the people in granby are talking about is happening on Smithdown, in Anfield with the building of the new football stadium, in kensington with the new 'gateway' 'into the city centre.

I don't know if there has been an attempt from anyone involved in the affected areas to bring the different communites together.

There is also an issue - in that the local media (ECHO,Radio Merseyside etc) gets pressure from 'the business community' not to publicise these issues.

The city council of Liverpool is takign its ongoign advice of so called proffessional devlopers and consultants who at the end of the day don't care what happens - becasue they have made their money - and like the horrendous decisions to build tower blocks, and tenements in the 60s - the truth about what is really happening may not come out until 20 years after all the great buildings have been kncocked down and the resistance has died down.

www.catalystmedia.org.uk

dazza


action

11.04.2007 10:25

there is adefend council housing group

but a local focus woulf catalyse ther movement of opposition

they have long tentacles and sharp teeth the beast we seek to destroy

but united action can and will destroy them

mayday hope springs eternal

johno


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech