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Liverpool’s first council housing scheme in 30 years set for green light
Liverpool’s first council housing scheme in more than 30 years is set to get the green light this week.
The council’s cabinet will be asked to approve entering into a contract with developer Lovell at a meeting on Friday.
Work is expected to start on the 105-home development at Denford Road in Dovecot by the end of this month.
Merseyside-based housing association Riverside will also partner with the council and Lovell on the scheme.
The scheme will include homes for affordable and social rent, the council said.
In May 2019, then-mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson unveiled plans to reopen the council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and start building homes again for the first time in decades.
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Liverpool City Council registered as a social housing provider with the Regulator of Social Housing three months later and became a Homes England funding partner in November 2019, making it eligible to receive grant.
A new strategic housing delivery team was appointed by the local authority last year, scaling back the role of its housing company, Liverpool Foundation Homes.
Also at Friday’s meeting, Liverpool’s cabinet is expected to agree to entering into funding agreements so that masterplanning work can go ahead for its Stonebridge Cross site in Croxteth.
The council is currently working with Homes England and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to put together an outline planning application for the project.
An application for 1,500 homes on the site is expected to be submitted in early 2023.
Councillors are set to decide on a full business case for the Stonebridge Cross scheme in autumn, with land remediation work already underway.
Barry Kushner, cabinet member for housing and regeneration projects at Liverpool City Council, said: “It will be a landmark moment for Liverpool City Council to green light its first housebuilding scheme for 30 years – and crucially these plans realise our ambition to provide high-quality housing.
“As a council we are signing up to the Healthy Homes Act that guarantees energy-efficient and lifetime homes and the properties at Denford Road will meet those standards.
“We will make sure that we create jobs, apprentices and business opportunities for sub-contractors for local people, and are meeting with the Unite the Union and the building contractor to plan this.”
The council recently became embroiled in a police probe into fraud and bribery surrounding building contracts and Mr Anderson was arrested in December.
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