A message to the Southern elite –come up or shut up

Lord Rogers has told the Daily Telegraph that “the scale of demolition is much greater than envisaged by the Urban Task Force”. Sir Peter Hall writes in another publication that he is “concerned about the potential gentrification of cities like Liverpool”. So what are we trying to do?

Let’s start with some facts:

• Since 1932 Liverpool’s population has been in steady decline. Not only have the numbers reduced but there has been a disproportionately large exodus of bright, well-educated capable young people. That is why, of the 33 wards that existed in Liverpool in 2004, 27 were in the poorest 10% of the country’s population.
• Liverpool is proposing to demolish some 10,000 homes over the next 10 years. At that rate it would take 200 years to replace the stock. Is this too fast?
• Of these demolished homes, some 6000 will be terraced properties, leaving some 90,000 pre-1919 terraces still standing. Is this an assault on our heritage?
• There is support for the proposals from more than 70% of those affected. Is this a dictatorial and arrogant approach?
• The proposals are designed to keep in the city the bright and educated youngsters who have traditionally left because we did not supply the type of housing they wanted.

This will mean that they can continue to live and bring up their children in the area they were brought up in. Should we return to the housing policies that split families up?

• The houses that will be demolished were built 130 years ago as cheap labourers’ dwellings, have poor insulation, no green or defensible space and open on to the streets. Should we really not aspire to let these people live in the same sort of nice, well-designed houses others live in?

We do not want Liverpool to be a city that people do not aspire to live in. We want it to be a balanced city that can retain its young people. We want grandchildren to grow up near their nan’s and to keep in place the extended families that made our communities the finest in the country.

We want to see a wide variety of tenures, house types and prices not only in the city as a whole but in every neighbourhood of the city.

We do not want Liverpool to be a city that people do not aspire to live in. We want it to be a balanced city that can retain its young people

We know that the people of Liverpool share those aspirations because they have been heavily consulted and in many cases have led the consultation. In the Breckfield and Anfield area we gave the local residents’ groups £200,000 to employ their own consultants to draw up their own proposals. In the Liverpool 8 area a neighbourhood management company has worked for three years to put together plans that have the support of 70% of the local population.

Late in the day a handful of people have started to set up organisations that claim to be a local voice but which are not largely composed of long-term local residents.

They have been aided by the Civic Society, none of whose members live in the areas affected – nor would they. They had three years to comment on outline proposals and stayed silent. Apparently Ringo Starr’s granny lived in one of the properties. Well, sorry folks, Beatles’ relatives appear to have lived in half the city. That is no reason for keeping people in small, poorly built properties.

So here’s a challenge to the metropolitan elite – come up or shut up. If any of our Southern critics want to visit us to find out what we are doing and why and who with and who for, you will be welcome. Plus Housing and the council will arrange a tour of any of the areas where demolition is proposed so you can see for yourselves what’s going on and talk to the people affected. Fair offer? Fair challenge? If you don’t come, let us hear no more of your ill-informed prattle.