PLANS to demolish the city’s Welsh Streets were agreed by Liverpool council.
The highly controversial plans were given the go-ahead after the planning committee voted unanimously in favour.
The redevelopment – which is part of the Housing Market Renewal Initiative (HMRI) – has been one of the most high-profile regeneration battles in the country because ex-Beatle Ringo Starr’s birthplace, in Madryn Street, is one of the properties due to face the wrecking ball.
This issue has divided the Toxteth community since plans were launched nearly 10 years ago.
A spirited fight by campaigners against the demolitions attracted the attention of government secretary of state Eric Pickles, who said the council should listen to the “people of Liverpool’s” alternatives to knocking the housing down. But at Liverpool town hall yesterday, after impassioned pleas from campaigners both for and against the demolition, the council approved its own application to raze the properties to the ground.
