Tears as homes crusader tells inquiry of residents’ heartache

Jan 25 2008 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

A TEARFUL pensioner who is fighting to save houses from the bulldozer told a public inquiry yesterday of the heartache of some residents who had already been forced to leave their homes.

Elizabeth Pascoe said she had taken up the battle to save people’s homes in Liverpool’s Edge Lane and recounted the moving stories of residents affected by the demolition plans.

Mrs Pascoe, a member of Better Environmental Vision for Edge Lane (Bevel) which is opposed to the land acquisition, said many of her friends and neighbours had felt forced to hand over their homes.

She said: “Lily was told by her husband he wanted her to be happy and safe. After he died she felt she’d betrayed him by leaving their home, but she had no choice. She’s now a council tenant.

“Another neighbour who’s a single parent struggles to pay her mortgage. She’ll have to become a tenant because she won’t be able to afford to buy. The best years of her life have gone into running her own home, now that’s down the drain.”

The inquiry is being held to decide if a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on almost 70 properties should be granted.

If approved, the CPO would allow a total of 370 houses to be knocked down as part of the Edge Lane West development plan. Developers want to widen Edge Lane, build shops and 280 houses.

Mrs Pascoe also spoke of an unhappy elderly man who moved possessions out of his home just days before he died.

She referred to CPOs as a “mass evacuation” forcing family-run corner shops to shut and leave the area.

Her view was supported in a passionate argument by Tuebrook ward councillor Steve Radford, who sits on the housing market renewal committee.

Cllr Radford said he believed demolition destroyed the fabric of a community, stripping it of people, workers and businesses.

He argued home ownership and home occupancy were key to regeneration but not encouraged by the council “grabbing land”.

He added: “CPOs make residents desperate and are socially destructive. It will dislocate people, dislocate business and dislocate employ-ment leading to a net loss of people and skills out of the city and possibly out of Liverpool.”

Neil Cameron, on behalf of the proposer English Partnerships, later suggested that Cllr Radford’s comments about a lack of consultation were unfounded and argued home ownership stood at only 21% in area, according to research in 2001.

Mr Cameron added that home ownership would increase under the scheme.

laurasharpe