Steve Radford supports Lawrence Westgraph in Pathfnder Debate

Cllr Steve Radford
Leader Liberal Party Group
41 Sutton Street
Tuebrook
Liverpool
L13 7EG
0151 259 5935

Dear Editor

May I as a member of the Housing Committee totally endorse the comments made by Lawrence Westgraph

Furthermore the response of the leading Social Landlords shows the distortions made by the very vested interests he was seeking to expose.

In Anfield the clearance areas will result in a lower population by 40% after new housing built. As an immediate result local schools are being merged to reflect collapse in junior school population

In the case of the Welsh Streets the original council survey showing a marginal majority against demolition, this was ignored in favour of listening to a bussed in protest

To use the Welsh Street case further,. it is the very anti-social landlords of the Housing Associations who own 67% of the stock which is to be demolished. In most areas the Social Landlords are the very people who are knowingly running down their stock and generating the conditions for blight.

The fact is, depending which zone is in question, between three and a half times and two and a half times more tax payers money is being ploughed into purchase, compulsory purchase and demolition than into renovation.

The Housing Associations and Council are causing market failure by emptying out streets, blighting neighbourhoods and refusing to put empty homes up for sale.

Where we have forced the Council and Housing associations to put long term vacants up for sale in Tuebrook, Stoneycroft , Anfield and Clubmoor there whas been no shortage of buyers. Renovation ,without burdening the tax payer for hundreds of millions is preferable to the obscene waste of Merseyside Pathfinder

Cllr Steve Radford
Leader Liberal Party Group