Freedom of the City for Jürgen Klopp and Sue Johnston

LIVERPOOL FC Manager Jürgen Klopp and actress Sue Johnston are set to be awarded the Freedom of Liverpool. The proposals to bestow the City's highest civic honour will be considered at an extraordinary meeting of Liverpool City Council next Wednesday, 20 July, and, if approved, a ceremony will be held at a future date.

The Council will also consider a proposal for HMS Prince of Wales to be granted admission to the Freedom Roll of Associations and Institutions.

Born in Stuttgart in 1967, Jürgen Klopp is a former professional footballer who spent most of his playing career at Mainz 05 before becoming the club's Manager in 2001. He was appointed Liverpool manager in 2015 and has guided the club to great success, winning the UEFA Champions League in 2019, and taking the club to another two finals in 2018 and 2022, and winning the Premier League title for the 1st time in 2019/20. In the 2021/22 season the club won both the FA Cup and the EFL cup.

Jürgen won FIFA Coach of the Year awards in 2019 and 2020. Cllr Richard Kemp has nominated Jürgen to receive Freedom of the City.

Sue Johnston was born in Warrington and grew up in Prescot, getting her 1st taste of acting at a drama group at Pilkington Glass where she was also working. She attended Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and her 1st professional job was on stage at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.

Working mainly in the theatre in the 1970s, Sue's 1st television appearance was on the cobbles of Coronation Street in 1982. She went on to become 1 of the most recognisable faces on British TV, most notably as Sheila Grant in Brookside and reunited with her Brookside husband Ricky Tomlinson, in The Royle Family.

Sue was appointed OBE in 2009 and has been nominated for Freedom of the City by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram.

HMS Prince of Wales is affiliated to the City of Liverpool and, along with her sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth, is the largest ever aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy. The 65,000 tonne vessel visited Liverpool in 2020 when 20,000 people took the opportunity to get onboard the ship in a series of sold out visits.

Liverpool's Armed Forces Champion and Lord Mayor of Liverpool Cllr Roy Gladden has made this nomination.

Lord Mayor of Liverpool Cllr Roy Gladden said:- "Awarding the Freedom of Liverpool is 1 of the great honours of the position of Lord Mayor. It is a chance to acknowledge the achievements and service of a wide range of people and organisations on behalf of our City. Jürgen Klopp, Sue Johnston and HMS Prince of Wales represent 3 aspects of Liverpool life that are close to our hearts; sport, culture and the Armed Forces. It will be an honour to formally thank them for their hard work, commitment and service."

Said Jürgen Klopp:- "I have to be honest, when I 1st heard this news I had to take a minute to take it in. As you can imagine, I get a lot of different types of news in my job, but this was definitely a 'Wow' moment. The main reason for this was what Liverpool, the City and its wonderful people, mean to me and my family. The welcome that we have been given has been unbelievable from the word go, so to get this kind of recognition is incredible. It is also very humbling. Obviously, I am not from Liverpool so there will be countless people who know more about the history than I do but I actually already knew a little bit about this award. This was because earlier this year it was granted to Andrew Devine, someone who we all had an enormous amount of love for, along with the other 96 victims of Hillsborough. I also know that Sir Kenny Dalglish has received the Freedom of the City previously so if my name is listed alongside those and all of the other recipients that makes the honour even more special. So to everyone who made this possible; thank you. You have made my family and myself so, so proud to know that the bond we have with this wonderful City has been made even stronger and will now stay for ever."

Learn more about Landlord Licensing

A special learning event is taking place next week aimed at promoting Liverpool's new Landlord Licensing scheme to organisations that come into contact with private sector tenants living in poor housing. The Council's Landlord Licensing team launched the scheme in April 2022 in the 16 wards in Liverpool with the worst private rented housing conditions. The scheme will run for the next 5 years, to 31 March 2027. It gives the Council additional powers to drive up standards and keep vulnerable tenants safe, such as tackling fire and electrical safety hazards, excess cold and damp and preventing and tackling anti social behaviour. The wards included are:- Central, Riverside, Greenbank, Kensington, Picton, Tuebrook and Stoneycroft, County, Anfield, St Michael's, Princes Park, Kirkdale, Old Swan, Warbreck, Wavertree, Fazakerley and Everton.

A key focus of the new scheme is reaching out to tenants and support organisations to spread the word about the scheme and the work of the Private Sector Housing service. The learning event will be the 1st of a series with residents, communities and partners planned during the lifetime of the scheme. It provides an opportunity to learn from each other and find ways of better joint working leading to better outcomes.

This event; which is taking place at The Florrie in Dingle, on Thursday, 21 July 2022, has been jointly organised by Liverpool City Council and the Central Primary Care Network, a group of 9 GP practices working together with each other to improve health inequalities for patients.

It will include training for the network's wellbeing link workers and social prescribers on how to refer cases in, and the advice they can give people who need support with private rented sector housing. Also invited are community organisations from across the City who work to support tenants living in unacceptable conditions.

The event takes place from:- 11am to 4pm and will include presentations about Landlord Licensing, the work of Central Primary Care Network and case study examples of people that can be assisted.

Organisations wishing to attend can sign up using this link:- EventBrite.com.

Cabinet Member for Strategic Development and Housing, Cllr Sarah Doyle, said:- "We know that far too many private sector tenants live in poor housing conditions which impacts on their mental and physical health and wellbeing. Our previous Landlord Licensing scheme made a big impact, but some tenants and organisations were not aware of it. 1 of my key aims is for us this time around is to get out and about into communities and educate people about the scheme by engaging with partners and community organisations to really spread the word. This event is just the start of what I hope will be a much wider listening and engagement programme which will help make the new scheme an even bigger success. This is all part of the Council's improvement journey, listening to residents and partners and acting on their feedback."

Hayley Corless, Service Manager for Central Liverpool PCN, said:- "Central Liverpool Primary Care Network is striving to ensure personalised care surrounds every patient. As an anchored organisation in the heart of Liverpool, we continue to work with partner agencies and cross-sector organisations to deliver on this commitment. We understand the role adequate and safe housing plays within our communities and look forward to hosting this event with Liverpool City Council. Our mission for this learning event is to upskill professionals from across Liverpool, in the fight against poor housing standards and to reduce health inequalities."

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Freedom of the City for Jürgen Klopp and Sue Johnston

Learn more about Landlord Licensing