I have to say, I find it quite unbelievable that these Victorian homes in Bootle, Merseyside, are being condemned to demolition to make way for boxy little new builds (having seen them I can attest that some are truly hideous). But it’s happening and the few remaining residents were served with Compulsory Purchase Orders about 10 days ago.
The three I met – Pat and John Dunn (pictured above) and their friend John Gillespie (below) are determined not to be bullied out of homes they have lived in for decades and raised their families in. For them the issue is not so much financial – they simply don’t see why their homes should be snatched away from them under the Housing Market Renewal scheme. Before Christmas, the plans for the area were criticised by the Commission for the Built Environment (CABE).
I wish them the best of luck in their fight and will be watching carefully as their battle moves towards a public inquiry.
I photographed some of the magnificent Victorian buildings in Bootle just prior to their demolition. Wonderfully designed brickwork patterns and features- all to be destroyed by the New Horizon and Pathway ( named after the bombing raids to flatten Berlin ) Project, only to be replaced with soulless boxed with little or no character.
I also covered the Victorian houses around Edge Lane and off Granby Street
This is also happening in Manchester and Salford too!
Elizabeth Pascoe fought the council in the high court to save her home in Adderley Street, Kensington / Edge Hill area:
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/03/25/elizabeth-pascoe-fails-in-her-latest-bid-to-stop-liverpool-s-edge-lane-scheme-92534-23222282/
http://www.liverpoolconfidential.com/index.asp?sessionx=IpqiNwEiNwEqKWP6IHqjNwB6IA&realname=The_Laz_Wordon_Elizabeth_Pascoe
hi Dave
thanks for your comment. I think you may have some of the terms a bit confused though – do you mean New Heartlands and the Pathfinder (HMR) scheme?
I know the Liverpool scheme well, thanks. I have interviewed, written about and photographed people from Toxteth (Welsh Streets and Granby Triangle), Watertree, Picton, Anfield and yes Edge Lane. I know Elizabeth Pascoe quite well actually – I went to her little house-leaving gathering last month. A feature on her from a couple of years back can be seen here http://bit.ly/cLliGP
It may not be obvious from what you’ve read on here but this Bootle audio and portrait is part of a much bigger chunk of work that I am doing on Pathfinder. I have done 30 interviews and pictures so far, covering areas as diverse as Salford, Hull, Barrow in Furness and Middlesbrough. I have visited nine out of 10 Pathfinder areas in the north of England over recent years – the only one I don’t know is Birmingham.
I am going to be putting these up on my blog one by one at an average of one or two a week. So if you are interested in this subject please come back – or even better, subscribe.
cheers
Ciara
doh. I mean Wavertree there, obviously
I’ve seen various names of the schemes – New Horizons was on a poster in Bootle. New Heartlands and Vision are others I came across.
I found a reference to the Pathways Project being named after the bombing raids on Berlin during WWII. Although many of the references I used seem to have disappeared from Google! Mac OSX has a facility under ‘Print’ which will save a webpage as a pdf. file – which will enable me to save all web references in the folders with my images in future.
Have you met Mike Lane, a friend of Elizabeth Pascoe? He produced a video about the housing clearance ‘The Regeneration Game’. I have a copy somewhere.
I may have met Mike along the way and I think I have seen the video