‘Liverpool Council broke up with us via email’: Why a community organisation lost out on regenerating Anfield
Homebaked CLT wanted to restore nine derelict houses in north Liverpool to their former glory. What went wrong?
Dear readers — A few weeks ago, we published a story about the fight for the heart of Rathbone Park, involving a community football group that had been in talks with the council to create a new football ground. That group’s hopes were dashed when they saw a councillor posting on social media about how he’d successfully helped quash their proposal, before they were ever given official notice.
Today’s story, about another community organisation whose years of work to regenerate an Anfield street came to nought earlier this week, covers many similar themes: about the difficulties of multiple parties working together to improve an area of the city in desperate need; failures in communication; plans stalled and dreams deferred. The council is now going ahead with plans to put the homes the community group had hoped to regenerate back on the open market. What’s next for Homebaked CLT? Abi dives in below.
Editors note: Earlier this week, we published our report on the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient and its alleged continuation by stealth, which one reader called “an exceptional piece of writing”. Just like today’s, that story was only made possible thanks to the hard work of our colleagues and support from you, the readers. If you value the content we bring you, please consider subscribing below.
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The Post would like to extend its journalistic solidarity to the Echo’s Ed Barnes, who on Wednesday was seemingly expelled from a Wirral Council meeting for having the temerity to point out that figures under discussion were in fact in the public domain. According to Barnes, the amounts related to various properties the council had bought, including the Vue Cinema in Birkenhead (£1.7m) and the Pyramids Shopping Centre (£10.5m), raised in the meeting by councillor Jo Bird. All the property values were indeed published in a public council report earlier this year. Once the exempt session had concluded, Barnes says he was readmitted, with apologies issued to himself and to Bird.
What that Wirral Council meeting was about, by the way: the council will be asking the government for a £20m bailout to prevent it from having to declare bankruptcy this year.
By Abi Whistance
On Tuesday evening, around 50 protestors gathered outside Liverpool Town Hall. With banners and placards punctuating the air, they sang the choruses of “Our House” by Madness and “It’s My House” by Diana Ross into the wind, awaiting a council meeting to discuss the contentious fate of nine properties in north Liverpool.
The gathering had been orchestrated by Homebaked, a community land trust based in Anfield, which has been fighting to create affordable homes in the district for nearly a decade. As part of their plans for the area, they had been working with Liverpool City Council to transform a row of terraced houses on Oakfield Road into safe and comfortable homes for the local community.
But just over two weeks ago they received notice from the council that their dream would not become a reality. In an email written to the land trust, the council said their plans were no longer considered viable, due to a lack of funding available for the scheme and expired cabinet approval. Instead, the houses Homebaked CLT had been working to regenerate would be put on the open market.
This news came as a devastating and surprising blow to the Homebaked CLT team. Even their councillor, Anfield ward’s Lena Simic, described the decision as “rash”, adding she had not been properly consulted.
According to Tom Murphy, Homebaked CLT’s project manager, the group has consistently “put forward solutions” and had a viable financial strategy for the renovations. Countless hours of volunteer time had been spent getting proposals ready over the last eight years, and the group had fundraised thousands of pounds towards the cause. All they needed to seal the deal was the support of the council. Instead, Tom feels they have been let down by a local authority who are seemingly unsupportive of community-led ventures.
“The whole community-led movement in the city is creating mechanisms to generate wealth and reinvest it back in our city,” Tom says. “It’s just hard to get my head around that the council doesn't see it long-term as a way to move the city forward.”
“This protest is a last resort for us, it really is,” Richard Macdonald tells me, banner in hand on Tuesday evening. He’s a board member of Homebaked CLT who was born in Anfield, and he has been in favour of transforming the houses on Oakfield Road since the project began in 2018. He says that the group have long had what they felt was a good relationship with the council, but the decision to sell on the houses has wounded them deeply.
Indeed, it seems that the relationship between the two factions has now been well and truly severed. In a strongly worded statement given to The Post this week, cabinet member for growth and economy Nick Small accused Homebaked CLT of “falsely portray[ing] the reasons why their scheme to convert vacant properties in Anfield has fallen through”.
“The council has acted in good faith over a number of years to try and find a way to support Homebaked CLT to refurbish the properties,” he said. “Unfortunately, it became clear earlier this year that their scheme was facing huge challenges…We fully understand Homebaked CLT’s frustrations — some of the issues have been beyond anyone’s control — but they need to reflect on their unhelpful reaction and focus on how best to develop a viable business case for these properties.”
Despite the protest on Tuesday evening, the proposal to put the houses on the open market has now been waved through. Tensions remain high, with residents in Anfield feeling wronged by the council’s decision to go ahead and sell the homes instead of enabling a local community organisation to revitalise them.
What had once been a warm relationship between the council and the community group – as they worked together for years with the greater good of Anfield in mind – has now descended into total acrimony. What happens to Homebaked CLT now that its dreams for community-led regeneration have been dashed? And how can residents trust that long-needed and long-promised regeneration projects in their neighbourhood will ever come to fruition?
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