Colin and I had a busy Saturday afternoon. I had done my duty in the morning, leafleting in Anfield and then putting out some of Wendy's Thank You leaflets in Fairfield so it was time for some light relief.
Colin and I watched a bit of "Homes under the Hammer" which featured an empty falling-down house in Bootle, 4 College View, bought by a property developer, only to discover that it was very likely to be soon the subject of a CPO (although they didnt tell him that until he had spent £7k on work to make it water-proof, looks like Sefton BC is about as good as Liverpool CC when it comes to dereliction and demolition). He spent nearly £30k on it, buying it and starting to do it up, the council offered him £37k to sell it to them so they could knock it down. He was still deliberating as the programme ended. Why weren't the council at the auction themselves? They could have saved themselves £16K as it was sold initially for only £21k. Typical.
Anyway I had a fancy to drive up there and see if it was still there and if it had been redeveloped or not, but it was gone, probably in the last few weeks and months I would think. All around that street the demolition is live and in progress, they are replacing these big three storey family houses with town houses and apartments, I hope they let the former residents move back in and rebuild their shattered communities.
On the way up to Bootle I noticed some great street names, there were ones named after flowers, including the delightfully named Pansy Street, I just bet there are loads of macho men who have refused even to consider perfectly good family homes in that street. There were also some streets named after Shakespearean characters including Macbeth Street, which got me wondering. How would an actor who lived on that street be able to tell anyone his address?
On the way back we went to the summer fayre at St Sebastian's School in Fairfield, where I failed to win anything on the tombola but did buy some lovely greetings cards from the L'Arche stall, all of which were painted by the people who live with in their community in Lockerby Road and have learning disabilities. Great cards, I can definitely recommend them, one in particular was at least as good as some of the Modern Art in the Walker. Wendy and I will be sorting out a visit to meet everyone at L'Arche very soon I hope.
We then had a walk over to the Albert Dock and looked at the narrow boats who were having a bit of a festival. We were struck by how many of them had either a diamond, club or heart on their bows and stern, does anyone know what that is all about?
We walked along the river front past the front of the new Arena, I was disturbed to see how many broken panels are already boarded up, where the glass has presumably broken. I hope the architects did understand just how windy the river front is, I work there every day and I have never heard wind like the ones that can brew up there. It is a bit worrying that it is already showing signs of wear and tear and it is not even open yet.
It was a lovely afternoon but I made up for it today by putting in 7 hours on my council paperwork...
4 comments:
The Bedford Road scheme in Bootle gives regeneration a bad name - it is brutal bullying, pure and simple. People have been given £30k or less for 5 and 6 bed houses - how can they find anything that meets their family needs for that pittance?
Guess which RSL ran the area down for ten years and is set to be monopoly land lord once the remaining residents are cleansed away?
You've guessed it.
Hows Colin getting on? We did a bit of stuff for him on the by election and he seemed like a top guy.
Laughing, that is a different Colin Adele, that is how rumours get started!
Oh ok. No just he seemed like a good candidate!
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