Shelving Anfield housing plan was 'right decision for taxpayers'

A general view of Oakfield Road in Anfield
-Credit:Liverpool Echo


Liverpool Council’s move to place a series of properties in north Liverpool on the open market is “the right decision” for taxpayers and the community, a senior leader has claimed.

Last month, amid a chorus of “cherish the terrace” from campaigners outside Liverpool Town Hall, the local authority’s cabinet agreed to press on with placing nine vacant homes in Anfield up for sale which had initially been earmarked to be delivered through a scheme led by Homebaked Community Land Trust (CLT). For a number of years, the city council had worked with the trust to bring back a series of homes back to life through a community-ownership scheme.

Having stopped the planned demolition of the houses on Oakfield Road, the community trust, working in collaboration with developers Your Housing Group, secured planning permission in 2019 as well as additional funding, before running into challenges stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit. In adopting the plans, authority leaders said there had been a “lack of certainty” regarding how the community-led project could be delivered amid the housing crisis engulfing Liverpool.

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Opposition members had asked members of the culture and economy scrutiny committee to look again at the decision when they met on Wednesday evening. Cllr Carl Cashman, who instigated the call-in, told the committee the properties should have been used for council housing.

He said: “We believe several partners both internal and external have not been properly consulted during this cabinet’s decision making process.” Cllr Cashman said he felt there had been no pre-decision scrutiny on “such an important decision.”

The Liberal Democrat leader added how Homebaked CLT had felt “snubbed” by authority leaders in how the decision was reached. He said: “Our alternative is for the council to keep these properties and in some instances refurbish and work with the likes of Homebaked to deliver much needed regeneration, but in other instances, actually refurbish these houses ourselves and begin to bring them back into use as council houses.”

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Cllr Cashman said it was a “prime opportunity” for the city to do so. Setting out the leadership’s position, Cllr Nick Small, cabinet member for growth and economy, said for the city to use the properties as council housing, it would have to be funded through the authority’s capital budget at the expense of another project in what he described as an “opportunity cost.”

Members of Homebaked Community Land Trust outside Liverpool Town Hall
Members of Homebaked Community Land Trust outside Liverpool Town Hall

He said: “If we do this through expressions of interest in the market, we want the private sector to fund that, in return we would enter into a 20 year arrangement with the owners of that property to lease those back.” Cllr Small acknowledged there was “absolutely” a need to build social housing but bringing the existing properties into use as such would require the city’s cash.

He added: “The market isn’t funding it, so it would be the council funding this directly.” The cabinet member said the council had worked with Homebaked for “many, many years” and the decision over the homes in Anfield did not detract from their relationship.

Cllr Small said: “We did that because quite frankly the partnership, and the work we had been doing with the CLT, it did not have the finance since Your Housing withdrew and that’s a fact. There is nothing to stop Homebaked CLT, there’s nothing to stop any other community land trust, there’s nothing to stop anybody else putting a bid in for these properties and I hope they do that.”

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The City Centre North Labour councillor told members he believed the cabinet decision taken before Christmas was “the best way forward” and said it would benefit the taxpayer and communities. Anfield representatives were split on the best way for the homes to be dealt with.

Cllr Lena Simic told the committee how there had been “a lot of outrage in the community” over the decision, while her ward colleague, Cllr Billy Marrat, said the “time is right” for the homes to be dealt with, claiming it had “gone on for too long.” Cllr Small said it was expected the properties would likely go out to market next month.

As cabinet members filed into the Town Hall before Christmas, activists chanted “cherish the terrace” and “save our terrace.” Tom Murphy, from Homebaked CLT, said how community members wanted the authority to go through the due diligence process on the properties.

Placards were held aloft calling on the council to “work with us, not against us” as dozens braved the cold to lobby councillors.