Metal Shutter on Empty Properties are Given a Modern Art Design
Ugly metal shutters on a row of imposing terraced houses in Edge Lane have been brightened up with an array of modern artwork designs.
The properties in Liverpool have been vacant and boarded up for years while controversial regeneration plans for the area have been fought over.
The plan to demolish hundreds of homes in the Edge Lane area of Liverpool and be replaced by a multi-million pound motorway access road are still being challenged in the High Court by locals after being served with compulsory purchase orders and being forced out of their homes.
The new dual carriageway at a cost of £65m was hoping to be completed in time for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year in 2008, although work on the whole area is expected to take longer.
The project which is headed by Liverpool Land Development Company created more jobs for the City and will bring a safeguard total of 1.900 jobs during the development.
The demolition of 490 homes and 24 businesses are in the Edge Lane area has been in progress since 2005 (although plans have been in the pipeline for over 20 years) but some residents are still battling to save them and in 2007 their attempts to stop the bulldozers moving in to some properties was successful. Work on the empty houses has been halted while awaiting further court appeals.
David Waugh chief executive of the Liverpool Land Development Company said: "The significance of the Edge Lane corridor for the wider prosperity of Liverpool cannot be overstated.
"This project will create a new high-quality gateway into the city centre, help in the drive to attract new jobs and investment and improve the local environment for people who live and work in the Edge Lane area.
"Indeed, the project will act as a catalyst for regeneration throughout the whole of eastern Liverpool, helping to promote economic growth."
Eye-Sore for Tourists
With the beginning of 2008 Council Chiefs have become concerned that tourists attending art events would be put off by scenes of dereliction and Liverpool-based adversting agency ‘Finch’ were employed to draw up designs that would reflect the different aspects of the city’s history as well as cultural life.
The metal shutters on the empty houses were put up to secure the properties from vandals and artsonists which have now become an eye sore for the city. Banners on lamposts have also been treated to a modern art make-over design
Finch’s managing director Tim Crutchley said: “We wanted to capture a look and feel that captured the essence of the people, the place and the heritage in a visually stimulating way.”
The Fight Goes On
Elizabeth Pascoa, of Adderly street is just one of the number of residents fighting against the £350m regeneration of the Edge Lane area of Liverpool, saying the houses should be refurbished and modernised – not demolished!
Ms Pascoe who lives just of Edge Lane faces losing her Victorian terrace home after she was issued with a compulsory purchase order (CPO). She won legal aid to challenge the order issued by regeneration agency English Partnerships.
She said that “The effect will be devastating for the community and there can be no public interest in this case, added My community will be destroyed, only to be replaced by another, more affluent community. This issue concerns my house and my life and goes against the interests of the community."
David Waugh commentated "We are fully aware that the legal process allows for a challenge to be made, and we have provided for this in the project timetable on the basis that a hearing would take place expeditiously”
He said the project would bring "huge and long-awaited benefits" to the residential and business communities in the area, as well as to Liverpool as a whole.
"We are confident that the decision on the compulsory purchase order will be upheld," he added.
The developers claim the scheme will improve traffic flow and regenerate the area, but residents have argued it would just create a motorway into Liverpool and destroy historic Victorian houses.
