The council takes back Toxteth streets. But why were they given away in the first place?

Dear readers — the fireworks are in hand, the bonfires are tantalisingly close to being lit. But those aren’t the only explosive things to look forward to this week. That’s right. The Post is back with your usual Monday briefing, and a whole host of other thrilling stories in store…

Catch up and coming up:

The weekend marked the return of our former editor, Jack Walton, who had been working hard to create a comprehensive piece about some of the key figures behind the flag-raising movement in the UK. In the piece, he uncovered that men responsible for raising the flags included a convicted people smuggler, a sex doll salesman and individuals connected to the far-right. 

The men who raised the flags

Nigel Farage says this summer’s movement was led by ‘ordinary people’ expressing their patriotism. That’s not what we found

The PostJack Walton

“Great work. We should create a QR code to link to this article and use it on posters to stick on the lampposts where flags are flying,” one of you wrote in the comments. Unfortunately, The Post isn’t quite that high tech. But you can share the article with your friends using the share button below. 

Coming up this week, Laurence is on weekend read duties. He has a doozy in store: the Liverpool-Manchester rivalry is a long-established facet of both city’s identities, something that since the Victorian era has invigorated football matches, inspired mutual dislike and undermined any notion of Northern solidarity. Rather than try and heal this M62-wide scar, Laurence will be arguing that Manchester is in fact a creation of Liverpool — or, at least, of Liverpool’s architects, musicians and political bigwigs. He promises that this is not trolling but a genuine investigation into what unites the two cities. If you know of anything he should be looking into in relation to this idea, let us know in the comments below or email laurence@livpost.co.uk. 

The big story: The council takes back Toxteth streets. But why were they given away in the first place?

Top line: Liverpool city council has agreed a deal with West Tree Estates to take ownership and regenerate properties on Ducie Street and Jermyn Street. 

Context: All the way back in 2013, then-city mayor Joe Anderson launched the Homes for a Pound scheme. Aimed at regenerating areas of the city that had become derelict, the scheme sold for £1 over 120 dilapidated terraced houses to first-time buyers who lived or worked in Liverpool, promised to live in them for five years, and had deep enough pockets to renovate them. The idea was to help foster a new generation of home owners who, having invested in the very brick and mortar, would have solid ties to their local community. 

The first tranche of 20 were sold on Arnside Road and in Toxteth’s Granby Four Streets area, which includes Jermyn Street and Ducie Street. However, around the same time — and with far less fanfare — the council also then began handing other vacant properties to professional developers. Campaigners on Ducie Street argued for a house earmarked for a developer to be given to the local community instead. 

That developer was West Tree Estates, who from 2017 was granted multiple properties for nothing or close to nothing. In August 2022, the Times reported that nine empty properties on Jermyn Street and nearby Hatherley Street had been granted to West Tree under a 250-year lease in 2018 and 2019. (Only one fetched any money: £10,000.) By 2024, The Post was able to report that 19 properties on Hatherley Street were given to West Tree Estates for nil, not to mention the residential units above six shops on Smithdown Road for £1. 

By this point, little was known of West Tree Estates. Neither The Times nor The Post had been able to draw comment from their directors, Kenneth and Michelle Guy. Kenneth had shown up to a few meetings of the Granby Four Street Community Land Trust, but “didn’t want to give them answers” according to another attendee. 

Despite promises to renew Hatherley Street in their initial proposals to the council, less than 18 months after being granted the properties, West Tree sold them for £250,000 and £300,000 each — for a total of £2.7 million. The man who bought them? CK Asset Holdings, the property fund of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man. CKAH had by then amassed a portfolio worth £400 million across the UK. 

The Times called this episode part of “a litany of failings in a council that gave away swathes of housing it owned in the city”. Properties that had been given away as worthless by the council in 2019 were, just two years later, valued at £3.6 million. 

Some of these properties were renovated by West Tree, who made them suitable for supported housing — funded, The Times reported, by taxpayers. In fact, Ducie Street in particular became “a fly-tipping hotspot”, resident Lee Brady told The Post back in August: litter and debris piling up outside its still derelict, empty properties. Brady described household appliances, couches, bin bags, tree branches and drug needles having been dumped there, with little to no response from local politicians when contacted. 

“The council did collect it in the end,” another resident, Ed Gommon, told The Post in September about debris he and other volunteers had collected into piles, but “it took them a long time”, and only after “we’d done the hard work.”

Now, the council has come to an agreement with West Tree. "The terms of settlement remain confidential,” a statement issued by both parties reads, “but include the withdrawal of the forfeiture notices served by Liverpool City Council and the voluntary formal surrender of various leases by West Tree Estates Limited to Liverpool City Council." No mention is made of the properties sold by West Tree to CK Asset Holdings. 

Bottom line: Locals of Granby will be relieved the council have taken action. But this was only done after years of complaints and campaigns. “Liverpool Labour are doing the right thing and clearing up some of the mess they created in Granby,” Gommon said on X over the weekend, “But [Ducie Street] should never have been given to West Tree.”

The statement issued by the council stresses a focus on “transparency, sustainability and meeting local needs”. Whether that “transparency” will include how much this debacle has cost the city — to say nothing of local residents and volunteers — remains to be seen. As part of the original deal with West Tree, the council was meant to benefit from an “overage clause” which entitled it to 50 per cent of any uplift in the market value of the completed properties after development costs: any details regarding those entitlements have remained elusive despite FOI requests from multiple sources and requests for comment by The Post.

And one word not used is accountability: there is no apology for giving away these properties in the first place or allowing the area to fall into an even worse condition than the scheme was ostensibly meant to address. 

Have any thoughts about today's piece on Ducie and Jermyn Street? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo of the week

An autumnal shot of Sefton Park, taken by our reader David Ellis last month. 

We’re always keen to feature photos from our readers — if you have a snap you’d like to share please email it to editor@livpost.co.uk for a chance to be featured in our Monday editions.

Your Post briefing

The government has promised the Hillsborough Law will not be “watered down” when it is passed. The Hillsborough Law — which will force police and officials to tell the truth during investigations into disasters — was formally introduced into the House of Commons in September, marking the beginning of its process to become a law. Prime Minister Keir Starmer had originally promised to bring it in before the 36th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, however he said the government needed more time for a redraft after campaigners for the law said it had been diluted. Justice secretary David Lammy has now pledged to ensure the passing of the bill in its "current, strong form".

An update on the Eldonian Village: On Friday, the High Court dismissed a winding up petition launched against the Eldonian Community Trust — the charity at the heart of the Eldonian village that has been plagued by questionable land sales and transfers to shady companies for years. The winding up petition was originally launched by Anthony McGann Jr in December 2024 (see Abi’s article about the case here). McGann Jr has long been a controversial figure within the Eldonian community, keeping company with the likes of notorious debt collectors and fighters. With this latest development in the story, our former editor Jack Walton — and the man behind our original reporting on the Eldonian Village back in 2023 — will be writing his final piece on the Eldonian saga over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for that!

And good news for Southport. The restoration of the pier will start in early 2026 following the government’s announcement of a £20m fund. The Victorian pier has been shut since 2022 after safety concerns were raised. Shortly after, it was damaged by a fire. Now, a full restoration of the 1.1km pier will take place, including the installation of new gates and CCTV cameras. All in all, it will take about 14 months to complete, Sefton council said. 

Post Picks

📽️ If readers have an interest in the First World War or independent cinema, head to Birkenhead Park rugby club this Friday for a screening of The Burying Party, the biopic of war poet Wilfred Owen. There will also be a Q&A and a chance to meet our very own Laurence Thompson, who co-wrote the screenplay. Click here to find out more.

🔥For your Bonfire night celebrations, Mere Sands Wood is hosting a dog friendly event from 5.30pm to 8pm. Find out more details here.

🎹Enjoy an evening of Pink Floyd this Saturday at Liverpool Cathedral. Music by Floyd will be performed by a full band, with a string and brass ensemble in ethereal surroundings. Buy tickets here.

🎄And looking ahead a little: the dates for Merseyside’s Christmas lights can be found here. Some important dates for your diary: 17 November is when Albert Dock’s Light Trail returns, and on 28 November the Light Before Christmas returns to Liverpool Cathedral for the annual light and sound experience.

Recommended reads 📖

If you enjoyed our weekend read about flag raising across the UK, you might enjoy the original piece of reporting by Jack Walton that kicked it all off: Manchester’s chief flag-raiser has put his people smuggling days behind him.