Section: Community Regeneration

Liverpool Centre Regeneration Progresses

National regeneration agency English Partnerships made a new compulsory purchase order (CPO) to deliver the comprehensive regeneration of the Edge Lane West area in Liverpool.

The Edge Lane West area is a part of the £350 million Edge Lane Project to transform the corridor from the M62 into Liverpool city centre, into an urban boulevard befitting a major European city.

The CPO is needed to bring the final properties in the 21.7 acre site into public ownership.

To date 301 of the 370 properties needed have been acquired by Liverpool City Council or are in the final stages of being transferred to the Council. Negotiations are continuing with owners of the vast majority of the remaining properties.

Once the CPO has been granted, the project partners will provide the following:

around 280 new homes, including sheltered housing, affordable housing for hospital staff and other key workers, modern apartments and family homes;
a much-improved environment with high quality new architecture, an improved setting for landmark buildings such as St Cyprian's Church, new paving, lighting and the planting of new trees;
an urban boulevard with safe pedestrian crossing points;
new and improved retail facilities for the local community, together with an improved setting for local businesses;
new employment floor space to provide jobs for the community;
a new state-of-the-art health centre;
a much-improved setting and safer access to Kensington County Primary School and the Life Bank; and
a much safer and improved environment for the people living in the area.

Eliot Lewis-Ward, English Partnerships Area Director for Merseyside and Cheshire, said:

"The comprehensive regeneration of the Edge Lane corridor is of critical importance for Liverpool and the wider region, and will deliver significant housing, employment and environmental benefits for the community.

"Most of the properties in the CPO area are already in public ownership and we are continuing discussions with the vast majority of the rest to acquire them by agreement. However, a CPO is needed to bring all the land into public ownership. Then we will be able to bring about the comprehensive regeneration of this area."

Improving Green Areas Around Estates

A new guide has been published providing a toolkit of practical advice and case studies to help improve wildlife among green spaces in and around social housing.

Published by Notting Hill Housing Group and Peabody Trust, and commissioned by Natural England as part of the Neighbourhoods Green project, A Natural Estate provides simple techniques to encourage biodiversity on the spaces managed by social landlords, and highlights examples of good practice.

Housing estate landscapes are not known for their biodiversity interest; they are often considered some of the poorest quality green spaces within our urban environment.

However, the growing recognition of the benefits that visual and physical access to natural green spaces can provide for people suggests that these spaces are priorities for improvements that can also help to conserve wildlife on people's doorsteps.

From the smallest of open spaces, introducing sustainable landscaping, to addressing antisocial behaviour, the publication gives useful and easy to implement tips for social landlords, residents and those working in this field to help improve wildlife on their housing estates.

Included in the guide:

Outlines of government reports and policies encouraging social landlords to take account of their green spaces and biodiversity;
Opportunities and constraints for social housing estates when greening their spaces;
Simple and successfully tried techniques to improve landscapes for wildlife;
Highlights of successful case studies, such as Knowsley's wildflower meadows and the community wildlife garden of a Brixton estate;
Grant funding sources that can help social landlords improve their spaces for biodiversity.

Following on from the publication of A Natural Estate, Neighbourhoods Green was planning to implement a number of biodiversity pilot projects on housing estates in partnership with Natural England over the next two years.

Section: Community Regeneration

Liverpool Centre Regeneration Progresses

Improving Green Areas Around Estates

Housing Monthly Diary

Reporting on July 2007

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