Decline and the City: the Urban Crisis in Liverpool, C. 1968-1986
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Decline and the City: the Urban Crisis in Liverpool, c. 1968-1986 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Aaron Andrews Centre for Urban History School of History, Politics and International Relations University of Leicester March 2018 Abstract Decline and the City: the Urban Crisis in Liverpool, c. 1968-86 Aaron Andrews This thesis uses Liverpool to study the British urban crisis from 1968 to 1986, showing how the city became the locus of concern, in particular within central government policy-making, surrounding the processes of urban decline. The British urban crisis is understood, firstly through anxiety surrounding the social effects of urban decline with particular respect to residents of the ‘inner city’. The experience of urban decline was shown through central government-sponsored social surveys, as well as through cultural representations. This thesis shows how the processes of urban decline – population decline, de-industrialisation and economic decline, urban decay and dereliction, and urban deprivation – were all linked and mutually reinforcing. Secondly, the urban crisis arose through the inability of central and local government, and voluntary organisations, to ameliorate or reverse the effects of these changes. The British urban crisis was therefore as much a crisis of government policy as it was one of lived experience. As this thesis demonstrates, the urban crisis was the result of long-term processes of urban decline. But there were particular moments during which Liverpool’s crisis called into question the governability of urban Britain; these included the ‘riots’ in Toxteth in July 1981, and the dispute between Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government and the city council, dominated by supporters of the Trotskyist group Militant Tendency between 1983 and 1986. This thesis therefore contributes to the historiographies of decline and declinism, social and economic change, and politics in late twentieth-century Britain. ii Acknowledgements Like Liverpool City Council during the 1984-86 budget disputes, I am indebted to a great many people. Simon Gunn has been unswerving in his support and advice over the last (almost) four years. His academic rigour and insight has consistently pushed me to think harder and write better. The Centre for Urban History has provided academic and affective support throughout this process; my thanks go to Richard Ansell, Richard Butler, Sarah Goldsmith, Colin Hyde, Prashant Kidambi, Toby Lincoln and Roey Sweet. Thanks are also due to Stuart Ball, Sally Horrocks, and James Moore, who have provided invaluable advice during annual reviews and informal chats over coffee. Through the Urban History Group and Society for the Promotion of Urban Discussion (SPUD), I have met countless academics whose advice and support – whether in conference Q&As or at the late bar – I have treasured. In particular, I would like to thank those who have – perhaps unknowingly – become valuable mentors: Jörg Arnold, Krista Cowman, Shane Ewen, Jim Greenhalgh, Erika Hanna, Tom Hulme, Rebecca Madgin, Helen Meller, Guy Ortolano, Richard Rodger, and Otto Saumarez Smith. During my MA at Bristol, Hugh Pemberton nurtured my interest in contemporary British history – thank you. While I cannot name everyone who has helped me along the way, please know how much I have valued your kindness and support. This thesis began as a study of Glasgow and Liverpool. I must therefore thank the archivists at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and the National Records of Scotland as well as Liverpool Record Office, the National Archives, the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick, and the London School of Economics. Friends have read drafts, listened to me talking endlessly about ‘decline’, and helped me through my own personal urban crises. Jamie Banks, Nicola Blacklaws, Katie Bridger, Jennie Brosnan, Joe Harley, Sally Hartshorne, Kellie Moss, Amerdeep Panesar, Emma Purcell, Katy Roscoe, Jenny Stewart, Ann Stones, Alister Sutherland, and Emily Whewell – thank you. Since the day I first moved to Leicester in 2009, Joe Hanley has been a bastion of support, even now from afar. I could not have made it through without these people. I would like to thank my family, without whom I could not have made it to this point. A simple thanks will never be enough. This thesis was generously supported by Optimum-MBA Ltd. I would particularly like to thank Donald Renfrew for his support, and making this whole thesis possible. iii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................. iv List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .................................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Historiographical debates ............................................................................................................................. 2 Decline and declinism ................................................................................................................................ 3 Late twentieth century Britain ............................................................................................................... 6 Urban modernism and urban crisis ................................................................................................... 12 Research questions ....................................................................................................................................... 18 Methodology, sources and case study ................................................................................................... 18 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................................................. 20 Chapter 1 Population Pathologies: Decentralisation, Demography, and Decline, c. 1931-87 ................................................................................................................................................. 23 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 Planning and the population, c. 1931-91 ............................................................................................. 25 Depopulation and local government, c. 1971-76 .............................................................................. 33 Depopulation and the inner city, c. 1976-79 ...................................................................................... 35 Depopulation and demography: age, race, and SEGs, c. 1976-87 .............................................. 44 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 51 Chapter 2 ‘Gizza Job’: Unemployment, De-industrialisation, and Economic Decline, c. 1966-86 ............................................................................................................................................. 53 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 53 Dockers and the dole: unemployment and the service sector, c. 1966-72 ............................ 55 Supplanting the regional problem, c. 1972-77 .................................................................................. 64 Economic crisis and regeneration, c. 1978-86................................................................................... 72 iv Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 79 Chapter 3 ‘Behind the Imposing Façade of the Boulevard’: Urban Decay, Dereliction, and Regeneration, c. 1968-86 ....................................................................................................... 82 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 82 Urban decay and the social, c. 1968-75 ................................................................................................ 84 Dereliction and the urban economy, c. 1975-78 ............................................................................... 93 Local government finance and the physical environment, c. 1970s and 1980s ............... 101 Urban crisis and regeneration, c. 1979-86 ....................................................................................... 104 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................