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Norris Green Village Working in partnership to create a new Norris Green… Norris Green Village 1 Contents 3 Foreword 5 Introduction 6 Masterplan 9 Local History Norris Green, an introduction… 9 Growth 11 Changing fortunes 13 15 Getting Started Creating a partnership 15 Interview: the Councillors’ perspective 17 Designing a modern village 19 Interview: the Board’s perspective 20 23 Development First steps 23 Interview: the Council perspective 25 Private rents:a step–change… 27 Interview: the Countryside perspective 28 Taking shape 31 33 Norris Green Today A greener environment… 33 Interview: the school’s perspective 36 The built environment 38 The families’ perspective 40 Norris Green in numbers 42 44 Thanks 2 Norris Green Village Norris Green Village 3 Norris Green Regeneration Foreword Housing our citizens is one of the greatest And, I think, that’s what has been achieved. challenges of our time. It is our largest residential regeneration project to date, and the speed with which “Once a beacon of opportunity people have moved back there tells you how successful it has been. It’s not just a housing and aspiration – and sitting estate, but a community: an urban village, on a key route into the city – with communal green spaces, a rejuvenated Norris Green is vital to the city’s park, dramatically improved facilities, and first class homes. Those improvements have collective future.” had a huge impact on the people who live there: education attainment has improved, The quality of housing has a dramatic impact employment has risen. They have stimulated on health, education and life expectancy. new jobs, businesses and opportunities. The challenge for us, as a city, and a country, is how to build homes that are affordable, It is a resounding achievement, and testament sustainable and a joy to live in. to the benefits of working in partnership. For combining the right mix of skills – access to Once a beacon of opportunity and aspiration finance, community engagement, planning – and sitting on a key route into the city – and building expertise and the will to get Norris Green is vital to the city’s collective things done. And it has happened during the future. worst recession in living memory. It is a credit to everyone involved, from the residents to the When Norris Green was built in the 1930s, it community organisations; the developers, was a source of huge pride. The homes were builders and planners. modern, with generous facilities – hot water on tap, electricity and inside toilets; curved suburban streets with their neat picket “We wanted it to become that fences. People visited from far and wide; it place again: somewhere that drew people to Liverpool. people were proud to live; We wanted it to become that place again: somewhere to raise a family.” somewhere that people were proud to live; somewhere to raise a family. Already it feels like an established community. It is vibrant and attractive, safe When my administration took control and sustainable. We’re very proud of it. of Liverpool’s Council in 2010, we were determined to do something positive for Joe Anderson Norris Green and its people, who had been neglected for too long. We wanted to give it a sense of community and belonging again, where families would choose to live and set down roots. We want people to move to Liverpool because we have the right housing to suit them and the life they have planned for future generations. Aerial view, Perilla Drive. 4 Norris Green Village Norris Green Village 5 Norris Green Regeneration Introduction When we arrived in Norris Green the redevelop at pace, moving from one phase forward–looking garden suburb had become to the next, whilst responding to market a byword for urban blight. The area, just over conditions to create an extremely popular three miles from the city centre, was prime urban village. for regeneration, and the local community deserved an outcome that kept them safe, “One of Countryside’s fastest– secure, and was well suited to the demands of modern life. selling developments in the country.” In spite of its innovative past, defective pre–cast houses on the Boot Estate had left The area now mixes homes sold on the residents suffering anti–social behaviour, fly open market with private rents and tipping and arson attacks while they waited affordable housing. As a location, it is one of for change to take hold. The community Countryside’s fastest–selling developments told us they wanted security, gardens and in the country. driveways; a better environment to bring up their children; they wanted to be able to use Our ambition throughout was to do more the park more, and they wanted traditional– than just build new homes here. Norris Green style, good quality homes. is a proud, committed community, and we wanted to make sure that they were at the After years of stalled plans, our formal forefront of those plans. Beginning with a partnership with Liverpool City Council community consultation, the local school created a shared vision, offering new and park have seen significant investment, solutions, both in Norris Green and further alongside the homes, roads and green afield. It matched our access to finance spaces. The vibrant, growing community and a regeneration track record with their has attracted new shops and events. At ambitions for the area’s development. It every stage we have asked questions of the is a relationship that has supported us people who live and work there, and we have throughout; both ambitious and pragmatic, listened to the answers. Wherever we have and always delivery–focused. It is an had the opportunity, we have tried to ensure excellent example of the public and private that Norris Green Village’s development is sector working hand in hand. resident–focused. “The community told us they “At every stage we have asked wanted security and gardens; a questions of the people who live better environment to bring up and work there, and we have their children; to use the park listened to the answers.” more, and traditional–style, Now, as we reach the end of our work here, good quality homes.” the massive investment that has seen £100 million spent on the area has changed Sigma’s regeneration expertise was not just its physical appearance, but its complemented by those of our building atmosphere and ambition. Many residents partner Countryside; their ethos matched have been able to return to an area they ours. A belief in masterplanning and high knew and loved. It’s something of which Residents speak fondly about the trees that line the area’s central Perilla Drive. quality design created a framework for us to we’re immensely proud. 6 Norris Green Village Norris Green Village 7 Masterplan Located just 3.5 miles north east of Liverpool’s city centre, the former Boot Estate is bounded by the wide boulevards that defined expansion into the suburbs in the 1930s. Utting Avenue forms the estate’s northern border, with Muirhead Avenue the perimeter to the south. The route of the former Cheshire Lines railway runs north to south along the Norris Green’s western edge, with Lorenzo Drive forming the boundary of the estate to the west; in the east, Stalisfield Avenue bounds the new development, with Croxteth Country Park beyond. 8 Norris Green Village Norris Green Village – Local History 9 Local History Norris Green, an introduction… Norris Green’s ‘Boot Estate’ began life in a flurry of optimism. In 1869, Liverpool had become the first city in the country to build Council housing, with the construction of St Martin’s Cottages in Vauxhall. It was the start of a trend that would continue for more than 100 years. Between the wars, the sacrifice of the country’s soldiers was recognised in a popular movement to house those who had contributed so much to the war effort. Prime minister David Lloyd George oversaw a move to ‘make Britain a country fit for heroes to live in’; housing ‘the hard–working people of Britain’ saw Council housing flourish. Liverpool however, had been an overcrowded city for many years. Its numbers swelled fourfold in the first 40 years of the 19th century, and its population peaked at 846,101 in the 1931 census. The 1919 Housing Act allocated the City generous subsidies to build Council homes, and the Corporation of Liverpool obliged, building 5,508 homes – more than any other city. But by 1924 overcrowding remained three times the national average. In October 1924 the city’s engineer, John Brodie, presented plans to build 5,000 new homes. As a result, 650 acres were purchased, north east of Liverpool city centre. By early 1926, a contract had been agreed with the housebuilder Henry Boot and Sons (London) Ltd, after whom Norris Green’s most sizeable estate would become known. Work began in June that year, and the area was officially incorporated into the city in 1928, named after the local Norris family, builders of Speke Hall. The area proved hugely popular and growth was rapid: within three years, more than 25,000 people lived on the estate; the population rose to over 37,000 eventually, housed in more than 7,689 homes. Boy drinking in Norris Green Park, July 1975. Image courtesy of Liverpool Records Office. 10 Norris Green Village – Local History 11 Local History Growth The roots of the Garden Cities Movement are clear in any visit to Norris Green, its aerial blueprint a fluid swirl of crescents and concentric circles. Founded by Ebenezer Howard, the movement took off in Britain in the early years of the 20th century; a reaction to the social and environmental failures of the 19th century industrial cities and to pollution, cholera and terrible housing conditions.

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