|
Lessons for Lille from
Liverpool A dedication
from the French City of Lille, who are on a fact finding mission to
Liverpool, on Monday, 28 September 2015, to examine innovative methods to
bring empty properties back into use. The elected Mayor of Roubaix,
Guillaume Delbar, and a team of officers from the La Fabrique des Quartiers
regeneration project will be looking at a number of different projects
during a whistle stop tour. It will include Granby Four Streets, where a
number of separate schemes involving partners such as the City Council,
housing associations and a Community Land Trust are working to transform
around 150 properties to create a thriving community. One project run by the
Community Land Trust has been nominated for the Turner Prize, while Cairns
Street has been nominated for Street of the Year in the Academy of Urbanism
awards. They will also look at the City's pilot Homes for a Pound scheme, in
which around 20 properties which have lain derelict have been handed over to
people for £1 on condition they bring them up to decent homes standard and
live there for at least 5 years. They will be shown plans for an expanded
scheme involving 150 houses off Smithdown Road in Picton. Cabinet
member for housing, Councillor Frank Hont, said:- "Reversing decades
of decay is a real challenge, but in areas such as the Four Streets, by
working with partners and listening to the local community, we are starting
to make a real difference. We have already either brought back into use, or
are in the process of bringing back into use, around 4,000 homes. We have
attracted a lot of national and international attention with our work to
tackle the blight of empty homes in Liverpool, and we are pleased to host
the delegation from Lille and show them the success we are having." |
