Apply for a Home for a
Pound!
LIVERPOOL City Council has opened
applications for its newly expanded Homes for a Pound Plus scheme.
Following the success of a pilot project involving properties around Granby Four
Streets and Arnside Road, the initiative is to be used to transform empty
terraced homes off Smithdown Road in Picton.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said:- "Our pilot Homes for a Pound scheme
has been hugely popular and is transforming run down properties into beautiful
family homes. We are now in a position where we are expanding the scheme and are
inviting applications from people who meet the criteria and interested in taking
part. This is a really exciting scheme because this part of Picton is already
being transformed through the building of the new Archbishop Blanch High School
and nearby developments such as the new Edge Lane Retail Park and Royal
Liverpool University Hospital. People moving into the area will be an integral
part of it becoming a thriving community again."
The homes targeted as part of the scheme are located in and around Britannia
Avenue, Altcar Avenue, Childwall Avenue, Dorset Avenue, Bird Street, Richardson
Street, Garrick Street, Tunstall Street and Webster Road. To apply, people
need to meet the following criteria:-
► Live or work within the Liverpool City Council
boundary.
► Be in paid employment.
► Be a 1st time buyer.
Additional priority will be given to applicants with dependent children, who
have a good credit history and can demonstrate that they have savings to fund
the renovation of the property.
Successful applicants will be required to:-
► Live in the property for a minimum of 5 years.
► Must refurbish the property to the Decent Homes Standard.
► Must comply with an agreed schedule of works.
To apply, people need to log on to
Liverpool.Gov.UK/HomesForAPound by 31 July 2015 and fill in the
application form.
Queries can be emailed to
development&housing@liverpool.gov.uk - please note that the team
are unable to take telephone enquiries.
The scheme will be split into 5 separate phases based upon condition and
geography in order to manage demand.
The City Council will carry out remedial
works on the properties that are in a particularly poor condition to make sure
that they are viable for people to work on.
Although preference will be given to
applicants who have savings to fund the refurbishments, the Council is looking
at a number of options for helping people who do not available capital.
Deputy Mayor, Councillor Ann O'Byrne, said:- "This is part of our
commitment to bring into use another 2,000 properties in addition to the 1,000
we have already completed and another 1,000 we are tackling. Driving up the
quality, standard and range of properties in the City is a priority, but we know
that Homes for a Pound is not a panacea for dealing with empty homes. It is 1 of
a range of things we are doing in partnership with housing associations and
developers to make sure that people wanting to live in the City have a choice of
good quality properties to live in, whatever their budget."
Previous applicants have already been re-contacted to establish if they are
still interested in being part of the expanded scheme.
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Help Formby to save its
Village by saying no to Parking Charges!
PLEASE help Formby to save its
remaining small businesses by keeping Sumner Road, Parking Charge Free! Current
restrictions on this car park are free parking for up to 2 hours with no return
within 3 hours from 9am to 6pm, but as we reported in our 6 June 2015
issue, this might be about to change. Sefton
MBC has announced that following a proposal to start charging, 7 days a week,
from 8am to 6pm, at Sumner Road, Formby. As many of the remaining independent
shops have commented:- "As the death knell tolls this is the nail in the
coffin for our once fantastic Village." Back in
2011 Formby businesses where warning Sefton
that the end was close after a dramatic change of the traders’ demographics
within the Village, due to outside factors and lack of support from the Council.
Now those warnings have become reality and the few remaining businesses are now
questioning their future. In our 13 June 2015
issue we ran the headline:- "Is Formby's
Village Canter doomed?" after Formby Books announced it had to close. So
please help support the local businesses, not only by shopping local, but also
downloading and printing out this letter, then sending it to Formby Parish
Council, Formby Library, Duke Street, Formby, Merseyside, L37 4AN, before 6 July
2015. Alternatively fill in the form page on the Parish Council website using
the wording on the letter along with your own comments. To use that form click
here and to get the letter, please
click
here. If you do not have Word, we have
it in a photo formation for you as well, by clicking on
here. Please note that the photo
copy is for printing out only!
Gardens open to the public
ALLOTMENTS, the grounds of private
houses and a community orchard in a burial ground all feature in a scheme to
open up gardens to the public. 6 gardens in the Greenbank Ward, in
Liverpool, will be open on Sunday, 5 July 2015, as part of the National Gardens
Scheme. Local Councillor Laura Robertson Collins, said:- "I doubt if there
is another ward in the country which has 6 gardens which are opening as part of
this scheme. They are a very diverse collection which will appeal to all tastes;
with some of them rarely seen. It shows that we are greening the City even in
areas which are densely populated. And visiting these gardens will also help
some very worthy charities."
The gardens are:-
► Sefton Park Allotments, Greenbank Drive (opposite
Merebank Tower Block) – Nearly 100 plots on 6 acres producing a wide variety of
produce.
► Buckingham House and York House, on Croxteth Drive
(Blocks opposite entrance to Cricket Ground) - "Gardens for the people"
developed by local residents around tower blocks next to Sefton Park·
► Fern Grove Community Garden. Developed over the past
2 years on an empty housing site in Fern Grove with support from the City
Council. There is a rainwater collection system, and a beehive on site, with
some of the grassland left rough to encourage insects. There will be children's
entertainment, including circus skills and a magician from 1.30pm to 4pm
► Quaker Burial Ground Community Garden, next to 93
Arundel Avenue. A community project which features a pond, a young orchard, a
vegetable bed, rock garden, bee keeping and areas set aside for wildlife. This
garden has been supported by the City Council.
► Sefton Villa - a private house at 14 Sefton Drive. A
small walled Victorian garden Parkmount, private house at 38 Ullet Road, (near
Princes Park Gate entrance to Sefton Park). The grounds of an old merchant house
overlooking Sefton Park.
All are open from 12pm to 5pm. A £5 per adult ticket bought at any of these
provides admission to all of them (children enter for free). - and the money
goes to charity Refreshments can be bought at all sites. The National
Gardens Scheme currently donates around £2.5 million every year to its nursing
and caring beneficiary charities. Further information is available
online.
New Event to be held at the
Fox and Goose, Southport!
WE will be making an announcement about
a new event at the Fox and Goose, in Southport, to be held on 24 July 2015! Keep
your eyes out on our Facebook Page and Twitter Page, plus more info in the next
edition! All we can say for now is Dust Off your capes, armour and wings! |