Four Streets with Endless Spirit: Day 2

Apologies for the hiatus after The Arrival, but sickness struck my system leaving me bed-ridden and quite lack-luster. I’m now up and at ’em, and ready to re-ignite my blogging of CLTs in the UK…

The second day of my study tour took me on a 2.25 hr train ride north-west of London to the port city of Liverpool. It was here that I was to witness, first hand, successful Community Land Trust projects in action. At this stage, in my very limited knowledge of housing and land trusts, I wasn’t sure what was awaiting me at the end of the train journey. I had directions to head to the Empire Theatre and wait for a mini-bus. So that’s I did. On the way to Empire Theatre I was struck at the bold and solid architecture of the city’s buildings; they spoke of a very illustrious past, full of pride, grandeur and money. I was intrigued to know more about Liverpool’s history because these buildings really didn’t represent an area of stress or the need of housing projects such as CLTs.

As the crowd for the CLT tour gathered out the front of Empire Theatre, two mini buses rolled up. I found my place at the front sitting just behind the local driver, a member of one of the CLTs we were going to see and a visiting architect from the Isle of Man (if someone from the Isle of Man asks you, “what’s one well known fact you know about the Isle of Man?”, you can reply that it’s well known for it’s tailless cats! An on-the-side fact I learnt on the tour).

Liverpool did have a very prosperous phase in history and boasted as one of the biggest cargo ports around slave and cotton trades. The success of these trades brought many workers and families, and the population soared. The city then went into sharp decline when slavery was banned, and when the great depression and world war 2 hit, seeing a spike in unemployment and homelessness. These societal events were great blows to a once bustling and wealthy city. The locals say that Liverpool is gradually building itself up again. Part of this building has come in the form of CLTs to address the housing issue…

Granby 4 Streets Community Land Trust, Toxteth

Granby Street sign with perched Liverpool Biennial Pigeons.

The first CLT project we visited was the Granby 4 Streets in Toxteth. This particular project reformed this area of Liverpool by bringing vacant and near derelict houses back into occupancy. The four streets include; Beconsfield, Cairns, Jermyn and Ducie – all tied together through Granby Street. We had the charming Jimmy, resident of Granby 4 Streets show us around.

Map of Granby 4 Streets

For over 30 years this area was due for demolition by various government initiatives of ‘regeneration’ and countless community meetings were held. You can imagine that the residents living in this area would have had a sense of anticipation and impermanence and certainly not wanting to invest in their home if it was going to be demolished. So they waited … and nothing happened and their neighbourhood gradually became more derelict.

Residents stopped going to these regeneration meetings and came together themselves. They all shared a common goal which was to revitalise and live in their homes. Erika (Chair, Granby 4 Streets) said the residents took matters in their own hands and went about making changes to their neighbourhood which they wanted.

She pin-pointed it to these three actions:

1. Painting the outsides of the houses and replacing signs which said “Everything’s been ripped out of this house” with pictures painted by the residents;
2. Planting out the street with flowers, herbs and vegetables in planter boxes (out of this blossomed a Planting Group for the neighbourhood); and
3. Organising a Monthly Street Market along Cairns Street, where there’s bike fixing, coffee and cake, face-painting and a place of coming together. It’s turnout out as a success story by attracting up to 200 people per month.

Cairns St with resident painting over what use to be a sticker of demolition.

Resident painting over what used to be boarded up windows.

A planter box as part of the planting out along Cairns St. Thriving!

This resulted in change! In order to keep the change and the land in perpetuity for affordable housing, the Granby 4 Streets Community Land Trust was created. The groundswell that came from this reached far and wide and attracted further investors and stakeholders into this community-led housing project, allowing more redevelopment of peoples home to be realised.

Currently the CLT is redeveloping 10 properties itself, a mutual home ownership co-operative is responsible for 5 properties and social housing providers are redeveloping 2 properties. Erika told us that one of the banker’s investing in the project was so enthralled by the project that they considered it a true investment because they could see the social impact it was having on the community too – “now, that’s investment!”. There are over 100 homes to be refurbished and rehoused. This CLT has a lot of inspiring work ahead of it to keep locals in the area at prices they can truly afford while living a full and happy life.

Ronnie, Erika and Jimmy from Granby 4 Streets CLT

 

Thanks for showing us around your home – wish we could have shared a coffee at your street market. Next time.