Liverpool refuses to let new towns rejection get it down
Leader Cllr Liam Robinson pledged to deliver thousands of homes as part of a Liverpool North new town, despite the community not making the government taskforce’s shortlist for the programme.
“While we were very disappointed we were not being selected, we are still going to do this,” Robinson told Place North West at the Labour Party conference on Sunday.
Liverpool City Council is working alongside Sefton Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Homes England, and an array of private sector partners (including Onward, Riverside, Plus Dane, One Vision, and Torus) on the 10-year project. The Liverpool North scheme encompasses a five-kilometre stretch of brownfield land between the city centre of Liverpool and Bootle. Among the areas incorporated into the “new town” are Anfield, Kirkdale, Everton, and Greatie Market.
The project would see the delivery of 10,000 homes and improved public transport in the area. The list of Liverpool North projects include the £20m Bootle Strand revamp, a £5m investment in Greater Homer Street market, and the development of the area around Goodison Park.
“We always prepared on two scenarios,” Robinson went on, explaining that one was with Liverpool North earning new town status while the other was not having the government backing.
“We’ve already got that plan B sketched out and we will be saying a bit more about it in the next week or so,” he said. “This is so important for our city and our wider region that we’re going to do it.”
He added later: It’ll obviously have to be in a different model and guise, but let’s be honest we didn’t know the full detail as to what exactly government backing would mean. And you never know, there’s a bit of an incentive now – can we do it a bit faster?”
Robinson also noted that Liverpool North still has a chance to claim new town status, as the current dozen selected need to undergo additional screening. The government could also always decide to grow its list to 13, he added.
There were only three communities in the North that made the New Towns Taskforce’s shortlist: Victoria North in Manchester, Adlington in Cheshire East, and Leeds South Bank.
Steve Rotheram was on nationl radio and all he was talking about was Burnham becoming PM. All he does is promote Manchester and his mate. It’s beyond a joke now.
By Carl
Liam gave a speech yesterday saying how great it was that Liverpool had a Labour Council, Mayor and Government. They are having a laugh.
By JP
It isn’t surprising that the Liverpool scheme was rejected. The Government need local authorities who can be trusted to deliver housing regeneration schemes. Liverpool’s record of delivering housing projects is woeful, just look at the decades of failure at the garden festival site.
By Anonymous
What exactly has this gov offered Liverpool so far? Lost Astra Zeneca, NPR kicked into the long grass, exclusion from civil service relocations, no inclusion in New Town scope, no service access road/tunnel to the port. Shameful.
By L17
And nor should he be. There’s massive investment through Homes England going into Central Docks that has capacity for over 2,000 houses and other parts of the north of the city that carry similar potential. LCC now needs to engage with all relevant partners to start doing the hard yards needs to realise the full potential of a great city.
By Anonymous
Disappointing, but no surprise. Liverpool has supported Labour through thick and thin, and doesn’t even get the crumbs now. Its almost a coercive relationship. Trams, Merseyrail expansion, Astra Zeneca, life science, Port of Liverpool link road, Liverpool Waters, NPH Rail, HS2, relocating of government departments, the list goes on and on. The UK will never succeed when such a big city is continually maligned. How can Labour MPs see what’s around them during the conference and not think its needs to change. This attitude will continue to push people to reform. I hope I’m wrong and Labour announce investment in Liverpool separately, but then the odds on that are the same as the Beatles getting back together.
By GetItBuilt!
Sir Keir said he would “Turbo charge” Liverpool. Having their conference every year is the most we will get. Rotheram being Burnhams spokesman probably doesn’t help either.
By Peter W
Perhaps because it wasn’t a new town? Granted, it was an imaginative tilt at an ever-diminishing pot of regen funds, but maybe – just maybe – Whitehall’s colourless mandarins thought they were stretching things a tad.
By Anonymous
Hope Liverpool remembers Labour at the ballot box.
By Anonymous
Are we surprised we’ve been sidelined? Does that explain the lack of anger? We get no civil service relocations, AstraZeneca refused, we are the runt of the litter when it comes to rail investment, etc.
Labour said they would turbo charge Liverpool but we are still waiting, ok they awarded £50m to Peel for infrastructure works at Liverpool Waters but when will we see any positive results from that.
Both Labour and Tory have failed Liverpool for decades but so have the civil servants both in Westminster and those based in the Northwest.
Instead of just accepting each slap in the face with a whimper why don’t we come out fighting and let them know we’re angry, what have we got to lose.
By Anonymous
That requirement that any community chosen for a New Town had to have a higher than national average worker productivity really skewed the results towards the South.
By Watcherzero
Nice try Liverpool, but good luck with plan “B”.
The Housing Trusts should step up a bit more and hopefully encourage more investment?
By Liverpool4Progess
Didn’t the Council just refuse an application for an apartment development in this ‘New Town’ area earlier this month?
By Ram Tailor
Disappointed but always thought this bid was a stretch , Liverpool not helped by very poor group of mps …apart from maia eagle no ministers …..other city’s have long standing mps who achieve cabinet rank and can so lobby for their areas . Liverpool has 3 MPs who just oppose therefore have no interest.lets hope Alison McGovern can bring some influence to benefit her home city
By George
If you always vote Labour the other parties will ignore you and Labour will take you for granted. The places which get favoured are always the ones with marginal seats. Vote wisely. You have a choice.
By Anonymous
Liam Robinson welcomes Labour to our wonderful city, Starmer agrees “Liverpool is a wonderful city” so that’s it job done, and except for tweaking the Hillsborough Law, and allowing us to host the conference for the last 4 years, we get no major Government announcements or investments for the Liverpool Region, it’s always elsewhere.
By Anonymous
Labour does not love Liverpool
The last really big financial investment into Liverpool was.. under Margaret Thatcher.. let that sink in.. Keir will deliver nothing
By Anonymous
And Liverpool will keep voting for Labour as always. They know there is no threat from the people wanting anything different so no need to change. Only the Tories or rather Heseltine did anything for Liverpool and that was decades ago.
By Anonymous
I won’t be voting for Labour in Liverpool again. They’ve given this city the crumbs for years despite being a stronghold for socialism.
By Anon
The Government have ambitious housing targets so they need delivery partners they can rely on. Liverpool council have a track record of failure when it comes to redevelopment so why would the Government take the risk when it can rely on Manchester and Leeds to get on and deliver.
By Anonymous
Never voting Labour ever again.
By Peter
Liam’s seems a nice bloke but he must be able to see that year upon year Liverpool is marginalised when the big projects or handouts are dispensed by Government. Where will the money come from for this housing initiative, what will the quality of the housing be like, will the design be imaginative. Liverpool has a backlog of projects and aspirations that are still to materialise such as : Williamson Square upgrade, London Rd improvements, New Chinatown , and so on.
North Liverpool needs repopulating and upgrading so hopefully this housing project will happen sooner rather than later.
By Anonymous
Always get the feeling whenever these big government initiatives and flagship projects are being planned , that work has already gone on behind the scenes with their favourite collaborators, giving them the hint that they are the preferred partners, and generally Liverpool isn’t in that group.
By Anonymous
It’s partly Liverpool’s own fault that it’s ignored – the track record on actual delivery of anything in Liverpool, especially at pace, is mostly woeful. The city is not trusted to deliver because its planning committee is stuck in the past, seems contemptuous of the private sector and profit being made by anyone, and seems to despise progress. Hence, opportunity is presented to those who are able and willing to grasp it instead.
By Anonymous
The lazy rhetoric that Liverpool has no friends in government. The city leaders need to prove that they can deliver on big schemes, that’s how you win friends. Robinson sadly in denial and Rotheram happy to lay the blame for failure at anyone’s door bar his own.
By Anonymous
Great
By Anonymous