Comment: Time to help Liverpool’s north

Nov 10 2009 by William Leece, Liverpool Daily Post

ONLY last week the Daily Post highlighted the often under-appreciated revival of Liverpool’s far south, thanks mainly to various agencies working alongside each other rather than in rivalry.

What a shame there has been no similar revival in the northern half of the city, where housing is all too often substandard, house prices consequently remain depressed and economic activity is all too often faltering.

The reasons for this are many, from the lack of ancient villages to form a focus for urban communities to the gradual decline of the central docks as the main activities of the port of Liverpool concentrate on the bustling container terminal and freeport near the mouth of the Mersey.

It is verging on a statement of the glaringly obvious to say that north Liverpool desperately needs a shot in the arm.

Better quality jobs – make that just jobs – better housing, and a spirit of optimism are all needed to start turning the area round.

It won’t happen overnight. It has taken well over 20 years to get the old Liverpool Airport site to the stage it is now and those hoping for similar results in the north should be looking at a similar time scale or even longer, given that the land needed will have to be cleared first.

But the growth of the Eldonian village around the banks of the Leeds Liverpool canal and on the former Tate and Lyle site show that a start has been made.

North Liverpool also has a local authority boundary running across it, which it is hoped will not prove to be any great complication.

Liverpool and Sefton will have to work together if any progress is to be made, particularly in these recessionary times. But the time to start is now.