Land News

Families wage homes battle

Liverpool Daily Post, 1st September, 2004

More than 100 families have united to fight for their homes, due for demolition in a £6m Kensington regeneration project.

The homeowners are only weeks away from being forced to sell their properties to Liverpool Land Development Company because of the planned Edge Lane Expressway from the M62.

The 100 families will be served with compulsory purchase orders. Their homes will then be bulldozed for proposed luxury apartment blocks.

But they say their houses, mostly in Edge Lane but some on adjoining streets, are perfectly decent and should not be demolished.

Jean Irwin, 95, of Edge Lane, being forced to sell the home she has lived in for 70 years, today told regeneration bosses: "Hands off my house."

City planners hope to create a widened expressway for better access to the city centre from the east in time for Capital of Culture year 2008.

The scheme includes demolition of 250 Lawson Fairbankce homes. Another 150 will be knocked down to create a more attractive "gateway" into Liverpool.

Mrs Irwin and late husband Alfred were the first couple to buy the properties in 1934. She said: "It is my life and my memories they are taking away."

Another resident, Joseph McGovern, brother of writer and former ECHO columnist Jimmy, said: "These homes are not required for the new Expressway but for apartments." The Edge Lane project would stretch from the Rocket junction to Hall Lane.

A link road will be built from the MTL site in Edge Lane into the city.

A spokeswoman for Liverpool Land Development Company - a joint venture between council, Liverpool Vision and English Partnerships - said no decision had been made about apartments, adding: "Residents will have every assistance possible to find new homes."

More news >

RSS Feed - Really Simple Syndication
What is RSS?


Sponsored Links

UKLD