Beatle's home set for reprieve

 



The street where Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was born could be saved after plans to demolish it were called in by the government.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles wants to look again at plans to demolish 440 Victorian houses in Liverpool.

The Welsh Street proposals have been designed by Triangle Architects which would replace the existing properties with 227 new units – 150 in phase one – for the council and Plus Dane Housing Association. A further 37 properties could be refurbished. In July, Pickles intervened just hours after Liverpool council approved the demolition of the district.

The council has bought up hundreds of properties since 2003 ahead of redevelopment work but this is now in doubt because £15 million of Homes & Communities Agency funding attached to phase one will expire if the scheme cannot be built by March 2015.

Save Britain’s Heritage president Marcus Binney said: “Save has been fighting these large scale demolitions of traditional terrace housing for over a decade. We and many others are ready and able to renovate them.”

But Save’s hopes to get a scheme in the north-east called in have been dashed after ministers decided not to revisit the original planning decision. Over 400 homes in Saltwell and Bensham are now set to be torn down.

Source: http://www.bdonline.co.uk