Submission to the Local Plan re: Ward

Sites for development – We have several empty sites in the L17 / L8 part of Greenbank Ward, which need to be built on asap:-

> 13-15 Ave, L17 and

> 21-23 Arundel Ave, L17 - vacant privately owned sites, and eyesores gathering rubbish

Both these have planning permission (or did have). One is owned by Tablecheck – who are keen to sell now

> 62 Road, L8 – privately owned site, and eyesore gathering rubbish – on the main strategic routeway into city centre. This has planning permission for three houses. The replacement of the stolen sandstone wall is a planning condition.

> 115 Hartington Road, L8

> 105 Hartington Rd, L8 – empty sites, 115 recently got planning permission

ALL THE ABOVE ARE IN A CONSERVATION AREA

> 12 Fern Grove, L8 - empty site (privately owned) with shipping containers on it

Also there are large empty derelict houses at:-

> 88 Hartington Road, L8 –derelict building now so dilapidated it has fallen out of CT liability, owned by notorious landlord who causes blight across city –needs enforced purchase for sale for redevelopment; and

> 31 Croxteth Grove, L8 – empty building, owned by another landlord in debt to LCC – enforced sale needed

ALSO We Need to STOP any further development in other parts of the ward:-

Most of Greenbank ward is densely occupied, traditional Edwardian terraced housing

We have more than twice as many houses with six or more occupants than the next highest ward for this, and so a very high number of HMOs

We have a very high number of very young adults living in the community (ie FT students) who bring enormous problems in terms of noise and mess, and the rogue landlords who exploit them, and the domestic burglary this type of household attracts, Over 40% of Greenbank's poulation is aged 19 - 24, compared to the average which is 13%,

Almost half the households in the ward are privately rented (49%), compared with <25% for the Liverpool average,

Greenbank has seen one of the largest increases in population from 2004 -14 (4th most increased – to over 16,000 people),

Less than 10% of all homes in the ward are either detached / semi-detached (Liverpool average = 35%),

We have c. 6,500 households in one of smallest wards in city by area,

We have c. 10,500 registered electors – approx 7,000 of them live in terraced streets

“The L15 Dales” – we are seeking to prevent all further development / household expansion in this area:-

These are the 15 or so streets in the triangle between Smithdown Road, Gainsborough Road and the West Coast Main Line Railway. There are 2,803 registered electors packed into this area, plus children and non-registered adults.

For many years the area has been increasingly attractive as a student area, due to relatively low rents and proximity to universities and local amenities. The area is under increasing pressure in terms of expanding population in same number of houses – extensions into the small backyards, into attics etc, making 4 bedroom houses into 8 / 9 bedroom houses.

This results in:-

 Pressure on car-parking;  Enormous pressure on waste collection, with no waste storage space on many properties now;  Enormous pressure on street cleansing services, cllrs having to pay for additional service from MNF at times due to number of young people and proximity to take- aways etc on Smithdown;  Negative effect on community cohesion – placing young students in conflict with longer-term residents;  Pressure on other council services such as environmental health and Neighbourhood services, cllrs have had to purchase extra Env Health input for extra Night Noise service;  Pressure on Police due to crime (burglary) and ASB from students and others;  Pressure on facilities eg water supply – there are more people in area than it is designed for;  Unsightly ‘To Let’ boards on a large number of houses, advertising the presence of students to would-be criminals;  Continuing and regular new applications for HMO licences;  Continuing and regular applications for extending terraced housing to cram more tenants in;  Continuing increase in population  We are asking that an immediate moratorium be placed on all applications for HMO licences and house extensions taking up more ground space in this area and no more be permitted.

This area is at a ‘tipping point’ and all residents, long and short term, deserve to be protected from further exploitation. As local councillors we would not ask for this lightly, but after three years deep involvement with a community who are asking us for help: ie a community of long-term and long-suffering residents, who are being driven demented by noise and mess; and a student community who are young and vulnerable to exploitation by landlords who view them and their CT exemption as easy money.

Thank you for this opportunity to have input into the Local Plan, I hope this submission can be considered and included in the future Liverpool Plan

Laura Robertson-Collins

Greenbank Ward