Speakers Corner
Speaker's Corner is designed to give people from across Liverpool the chance to debate and have their say on the issues which are facing the city. We will feature a new Speaker's Corner every couple of weeks, and we welcome your comments beneath the featured article.
We would like to stress that those appearing on Speakers Corner do not necessarily support the Labour Party. This is designed to be a place to generate debate and discussion about the way forward for the City of Liverpool, in all parts of Liverpool life. We welcome bias and opinions, and hope that Speaker's Corner becomes a forum where people can come together and argue their case for how to make Liverpool work better.
The regeneration of Liverpool is something that still fills me with wonder. A city written off, a city said to be in its death throes, a place that people moved away from in droves is now a vibrant and vital place. It is a city regenerated and transformed. There is much to be proud of and to celebrate and I am fiercely proud of who we are and what we have achieved particularly since 1997 under this Labour Government. But if I am proud I am also a realist and I know that as a city we are, like so many other great cities up and down the country feeling the brunt of the economic down turn and starting a new decade facing difficult decisions and huge challenges.
I know all about challenges. Thirty years ago my neighbourhood faced demolition, the community, my extended family was to be broken up and dispersed. It didn’t happen because we refused to accept it, we resisted it. We came together as individuals and families and we faced the challenge head on and worked long and hard to create a new neighbourhood where people had homes to be proud of, homes they could afford. It wasn’t easy; it was a long and bloody fight in which we had to drag some people kicking and screaming into partnership with us. But we never gave up because we believed in the fight and the rights of people to have decent homes. Moving into new homes was a momentous, emotional time for the Eldonians. Access to safe, secure and affordable housing is one of the most basic human rights and from this everything else can flow and flourish- families, friends, employment and good health. The life chances for people open up, there are good outcomes and possibilities, ambitions are realised, and ordinary dreams come true. Without housing and a sustainable community all of this stalls and declines. The life chances for people diminish, lives are blighted, opportunities shrivel, doors close. It was true then and it is true now.
The economic down turn has meant investment has slowed, regeneration has stalled. The impact on housing needs has been dramatic. There are twenty three thousand people in this city in need of housing to rent or buy. Many young people are forced to stay with or return home to live with their parents. This is not the natural order of things and the stress and strain of this situation has a direct link to people’s emotional and physical well being. The repercussions of our critical housing problem are far reaching and wide ranging. The impact on the health, stability and outcomes for individuals and families cannot be overstated. We are staring at a crisis and a passive approach to the imminent crisis is not an option for people like me who care about the lives and futures of the good and decent people of this city.
When we secured our new neighbourhood all those years ago we didn’t stop there. From the onset there was a long term vision to regenerate the wider neighbourhood and establish strong links with private and public partners, with health and education and to build a sustainable community with good employment prospects for local people. Our work has been recognised nationally and internationally. In 2004 we were awarded the prestigious World Habitat award and Gordon Brown spoke of us as a ‘beacon to other communities’ and ‘a model for what can be achieved when communities pull together.’ In short our name is good, our reputation is excellent and we deliver. Our ideas are simple, our dreams are big and our commitment unquestionable. We have rolled out our model and shared good practice and our response to this housing challenge is positive and pro active. We have a strategy to build in the first instance 150 new, sustainable homes. Much needed housing with all the benefits housing brings, improved health and family stability and the reality of much needed employment for local people.
Back then what mattered as well as passion and commitment was having vision and the support of partners and allies. We had them then and we have them today. In Joe Anderson we have a formidable friend and ally. He shares our vision, he has the passion and his commitment and support has been unstinting and generous. He is of the people and for the people. Put simply he ‘gets it’ –he knows that standing by and watching isn’t an option. He believes in social justice and like us his commitment is big enough to match the scale of the challenge we face. He has the vision and political will to want to improve the life chances of people who just want access to decent, affordable homes. It’s not much to ask is it?
Tony McGann OBE, MBE, MA(HC)