‘A grassroots revolution’? Liverpool’s abandoned buildings could be transferred to community groups

Dear readers — Monday, yet again. A warm welcome to this week’s briefing. We hope you were able to get out and about on Saturday for those glorious few hours of sunshine. Sure, it was still chilly out, especially in the shade, but by this point in winter’s long slog we’ve got to take what we can get.

Last week, we published Lucy Green’s wonderful essay about the Scouse diaspora and the curious culture clash between watching the Superbowl and the Merseyside Derby. (Despite being proofed by Everton supporter Laurence, it’s caused some controversy among Bluenose commenters...)

A tale of two football games

Dear members – Today’s edition is all about football: both real football, and that other, lesser American version. Liverpudlian Lucy Green, who recently moved to New York City, was one of the record-breaking 127.7 million people to tune into the NFL’s Super Bowl 59 earlier this month, when she experienced a hearty dose of strange Americana. Three days later, she watched the Merseyside Derby with dozens of her newest friends at the home of Liverpool FC’s Official New York Supporters Club – and the two experiences could not have been more different.

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We also had a follow up to our story from earlier this month about National Museums Liverpool (NML) and their handling of both internal and external complaints about the behaviour of their former historian in residence, Laurence Westgaph. Allegations of sexual harassment made against him by staff are currently the subject of an internal NML investigation, and some employees tell The Post they’re disappointed and outraged with the ways senior management has handled the situation so far.

Laurence Westgaph is under investigation by National Museums Liverpool. Why is he still touring at the Walker Art Gallery?

Dear readers — For today’s story, we’re following up on our investigation into Laurence Westgaph being appointed and maintained as National Museums Liverpool’s (NML) historian in residence, despite allegations made against him of sexual harassment, assault, and domestic violence. As pressure continues to build on NML and the public figures who enabled him, The Post has uncovered internal emails pertaining to Westgaph’s initial hiring as well as NML’s ongoing investigation into how they’ve handled the allegations. We’ve also spoken with current and former NML staff members who are disappointed and outraged that their employer has seemingly prioritised their former historian in residence’s wellbeing over concerns for staff or visitor safeguarding. Perhaps most incredibly, Westgaph has returned to one of NML’s institutions to give one of his signature tours – despite being under internal investigation by the very same institution. All that and more below.

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For today’s edition, we’re taking a look at an evergreen topic here at The Post – Liverpool’s many abandoned buildings and plots of land – and a potential council solution: handing off ownership for some of these places to charities and community groups. Could it work? Plus, news updates on the fight to save L8’s African Caribbean Centre, a bailout for Wirral Council and much more.

Editor’s note: It’s exciting times here at Post HQ. Abi’s back from a well-deserved holiday and hitting the ground running on new and ongoing investigations, while we’ve got some fascinating freelance writer stories lined up in the coming weeks – not to mention Laurence’s brilliant culture pieces. The more people who sign up for a paid subscription, the more ambitious we can be in our coverage of all things Merseyside. Sign up today and get eight extra stories per month for less than the cost of a (delicious) latte and pastry from Lunko by the Lane.

The big story: Liverpool’s abandoned buildings are a big problem. The council may have a solution.

Top line: This week, Liverpool City Council will decide the future of six vacant premises, with a report recommending that they be handed over to charities and community groups. But not everyone is impressed with this proposal.

Context: In 2022, Liverpool Council introduced its Community Asset Transfer (CAT) policy. The idea was to transfer ownership of some of the assets it could no longer afford to maintain to local groups, or else offer less than market rent in return for projects with “social value”. At the time, then-mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson hailed the scheme as starting “a grassroots revolution by giving the power to the people to realise their ambitions, hopes and dreams for a plot of land or a building and unlock its potential”. The plan, she said, would help prevent beloved historical buildings in particular from "being left to rot”.

CAT’s phase one offered premises to interested groups, including Adlam Park Sports Pavilion and Speke Adventure Playground Centre. This week, councillors will meet to decide whether six vacant buildings should be added to phase two:

• Anfield Cemetery Chapel
• Garston Urban Village Hall
• Knotty Ash Community Centre
• Joseph Gibbons Day Centre, Sefton Park
• St Brendan’s Church, Old Swan
• Former Lodge Lane Library

Following approval, the premises will be advertised on the council website. Voluntary groups, social enterprises, charities, and other not-for-profit organisations can apply to take on ownership on either a long-term or short-term basis.

Several of these assets are already places of historic or social importance. Knotty Ash Community Centre includes a Grade-II listed stone drinking fountain, while the Anfield Cemetery chapel is an example of the Victorian Gothic Revival that originally served Nonconformist Christians. The library on Lodge Lane, which has been a local landmark for eight decades due to its unique flame-topped clock tower, was part of Liverpool’s Edwardian development that sought to provide self-educational opportunities for residents, though it has been earmarked for demolition in more recent times.

Last year, other council assets — including Everton Park Lifestyles Sports centre, which has roots as a Victorian wash house dating back to 1884 — were considered for relinquishment under CAT, the council having agreed to slice its leisure budget by £2m. Last month, the council had to close part of Everton Park due to structural damage to the roof, meaning the sports hall, gym, and squash courts were out of service.

Regarding the proposal for new transfers this week, councillor Nick Small, the council’s cabinet member for growth and economy, had this to say: “Each building proposed for the second phase has so much potential but is currently sat empty and unused. By offering them to interested groups within the community, the council will be able to save on unnecessary maintenance costs and provide charities and organisations with a space they may otherwise be unable to afford.”

Not everyone is excited by this prospect, however. Upon the council announcing the six premises to be debated this week, the Garston Community Independents Group — ran by councillors Sam Gorst and Lucy Williams — took to social media platform X, writing: “Absolute nonsense and deception from Liverpool City Council. Garston Urban Village Hall is subject to a 30 year lease, organisations paying to repair it and ongoing rents. Does this crap really sound like a ‘Community Asset Transfer’? Errr. No! Give us our community centre back!”

Previously, the housing association South Liverpool Homes had looked to bring the Garston hall back to full use by helping develop a community interest company (CIC) to help manage the building. Prior to that, it was leased to Garston Urban Village Hall Ltd (GUVH) for a peppercorn rent, but GUVH went into compulsory liquidation in 2017. The village hall’s closure that year shocked residents and meant the cancellation of a regular lunch group for pensioners, an after-school club, a food bank, and a wedding party.

Bottom line: In September 2023, the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at the University of Liverpool published “Asset ownership in Liverpool City Region’s social economy.” The paper, funded in part by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, states that “[CATs] are a useful mechanism (but not the only one) for providing access to land and property to organisations in the social economy,” before laying out four critical considerations: people, property, money, and governance. Any community asset projects should, the authors say, regularly involve local residents, have capital and revenue grants in place, and be governed by “appropriately skilled directors” to ensure the interests of the community are front and centre.

These are among many thoughtful considerations that may be taken into account. Ultimately, however, the council is not obliged to follow these recommendations.

We’ve previously reported on a number of instances when the council was considering transferring ownership of derelict properties or parcels to land to various community groups – only for those plans to fall apart somehow. Most recently that’s been the case for Homebaked CLT’s attempts to regenerate Anfield and City of Liverpool FC’s dashed dreams to transform Rathbone Park. Could similar problems plague these latest proposals?

Your Post briefing

Health Secretary Wes Streeting found himself in hot water over the weekend after it was revealed that he had accepted donations from a PR guru whose firm had physically threatened a client. The PR guru in question? Liverpool’s own Dan Hughes. Post readers may remember his name from Abi’s investigation last year, which revealed he had made numerous donations to Labour Party officials — including the £10,000 in question to Streeting — and used his connections within the party to score contracts for clients. Now, a Times investigation has further revealed that three years ago, Hughes encouraged his brother to threaten a CEO his firm was working with in order to recover money, going as far as to tell that CEO: “He knew who he was and where he lived with his wife and children”. At the time, Hughes denied being aware of his brother’s “threatening conduct”. However, in 2022 a judge ruled it was not “credible” that Hughes was unaware of his brother’s behaviour and ordered him to pay more than £14,000 at Liverpool commercial court.

The board of the African Caribbean Centre in L8 has said they are “shocked, angry and extremely saddened” after hearing plans by Liverpool City Council to turn their site into a new school. Last week, it was reported by The Echo that the centre was under threat of closure, and was being considered as a site for Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy — the city's first Muslim faith-designated school. In a post on Instagram over the weekend, the board of the African Caribbean Centre said they had not been properly consulted over the decision, adding that the community had been “broad-sided due to the lack of democratic process”. A cabinet meeting on Tuesday this week is set to discuss the plans, with the board encouraging members of the public to attend to oppose the decision.

A Wirral teacher has claimed that teachers are leaving the profession due to “vicious” online abuse. Kevin Flanagan, the headteacher of Pensby High School, sued the parents of two pupils at the school after claiming he was being harassed by them. He obtained a court settlement of £10,000 after taking legal action last year, with the parents denying his claims. Speaking last week, Mr Flanagan said that he’s had teachers “thinking that they cannot do their job properly without fear of being targeted”, adding that they’ve had “all sorts of allegations thrown at people via things like Facebook and social media, which we cannot answer back — we've had people in tears as a result of what's been said about them.” Wirral Council declined to comment.

And speaking of Wirral Council, the beleaguered local authority has now been granted £27.5 million in emergency bailout cash for the current year – £12.5 million less than the £40 million it requested in December, suggesting that councillors may struggle to set a balanced budget in time for 2025-26. The council can now avoid declaring bankruptcy – for now. Revisit our recent deep-dive to get a sense of how things got quite this bad.

Photo of the week

On 8th November 1971, actress Gail Grainger, who starred as Shirley Hughes in the play The Man Most Likely to… at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, and co-star Leslie Phillips ran round the theatre clad only in a bikini (for her) and a dressing gown (for him) — all for a bet.

Post Picks

📖On Tuesday, head down to Yamama for the Baltic Book Club. The group will be discussing The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella, a funny and thoughtful look at stress, self-care, and figuring out what really matters. Tickets are £5, and includes a welcome drink and an evening of warm, engaging conversation.

🎸On Friday, quartet Siapiau will be playing at Metal Liverpool. Frontwoman Maggie Nicols has a career spanning sixty years, starting off as a dancer at the Windmill (and briefly at the Moulin Rouge), becoming a jazz singer in a Manchester strip club and then joining John Stevens' Spontaneous Music Ensemble as an improvising vocalist. Her quartet, featuring North-West musicians Fran Bass, Richard Harrison and Phil Hargreaves combine with her piano to explore all the boundaries of music. Tickets here.

🍁If live music isn’t your thing, this three hour session with a foraging expert, including ID work, tasting wild ingredients and a snack at Dibbinsdale Nature Reserve sounds like a lot of fun. The event starts at 11am on Friday — find out more here.

🛋️On Saturday, enjoy a midcentury vintage marketplace dedicated to retro homewares, furniture, lighting and collectables from the 1940s to 1970s over at St Barnabas on Penny Lane. The market runs from 10.30am to 4pm — tickets here.

Recommended reads

Another important read about the Southport attack last year. In an interview with BBC Panorama, yoga teacher Leanne Lucas described how she called 999 as Axel Rudakubana began stabbing children in her dance class. "I just knew that if I didn't get out, everyone was going to die," she said.