LETTER PRINTED IN ECHO AND DAILY POST

 THE recent removal of the kerb crawler signs from lampposts on Sheil Road is welcome news as the only impact this signage had was to present the Newsham Park area as a red light district.
 
The Liberal Group has lobbied the chief executive of the council at least twice to request that these signs be removed due to their impact on the area and because no proper consultation ever took place with local residents or any of the councillors for the Tuebrook ward.
 
Cllrs Steve Radford, Hazel Williams & Chris Lenton,
Tuebrook & Stoneycroft Liberal Party

'Restoration' victory for park villa campaigners

Jun 5 2006

By Adrian Butler Daily Post Staff

COMMUNITIES Minister Ruth Kelly is to force the sale of a row of derelict Victorian villas next to a historic park, against the wishes of Liverpool council. In one of her first decisions since replacing John Prescott as the minister responsible for housing and planning, Ms Kelly has served notice on Liverpool City Council, meaning it could be forced to sell off the houses. A letter to residents from then chief executive Sir David Henshaw stated the council had wanted to demolish the villas with money from Mr Prescott's New Heartlands programme. Residents in Newsham Park had been campaigning to restore the large empty properties owned by the council and housing associations around the Grade II-listed green space.

Jonathan Brown, of Friends of Newsham Park, said the ruling could give hope to communities where publicly-owned land is left in derelict condition.

Residents said the council and housing association's failure to invest in upkeep is holding the area back in the middle of a housing boom.

Mr Brown had uncovered a piece of 1980s Thatcherite legislation known as a Public Request to Order Disposal.

It forces publicly-owned land that is harming the amenity of an area to be sold off to private developers.

This weekend he received a letter saying the new Communities and Local Government Secretary is "minded to agree" to his request, and has given the council notice that she proposes a direction "requiring them to take steps for the disposal of their interest in the land".

It means the council has 42 days to explain why it should keep the land before it is sold.

In a letter to the city solicitor, the Government Office for the North West's Director of Planning Jo Lappin says: "It appears that the land is not being used by the city council for the performance of their functions."

It says Ms Kelly "is not so far satisfied that the city council has any firm plans to sell, develop or bring the land into use within a reasonable timescale."

Mr Brown said "The council and housing associations admit that they have no plans to invest in any of these homes until after

2010. This decade of dereliction is far too long to wait when public property is left in such dangerous condition, blighting a beautiful conservation area.

"The Victorian villas deserve to be restored to help solve the city's housing crisis, and the money from sales 'ring-fenced' to invest back in the neglected historic park." The Friends of Newsham Park have already successfully pressed the council and social landlord Riverside Housing to sell two derelict villas on Judges Drive for £320,000.

Liberal Party councillors are delighted that the neglect of the city council is being challenged at the highest level and are inviting residents throughout the city to write to them at 41 Sutton Street ,Tuebrook, to expose any similar sites of city council owned land or buidling being left as a magnet for vandalism or arson as was the case here in Newsham Park