page_title: Granby Four Streets
section_title: Government regeneration
hierarchical_section_title: Granby Four Streets / Government regeneration
caption_attribution_description: English: Cairns Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, England.
context_page_description: The Granby Four Streets is an area in Toxteth, Liverpool, England, comprising four streets at the tip of a triangle near the Grade II* listed Princes Park. The streets, designed by Welsh architect Richard Owens and built by Welsh workers during the late 19th century are Beaconsfield Street, Cairns Street, Jermyn Street and Ducie Street. A fifth street, Granby Street, connects the four streets together and mostly contains commercial units.
  The Granby Streets area is among the oldest multicultural neighbourhoods in the country, due to immigration following Britain's post-war period. During the 1960s, the area was designated a "twilight area", resulting in many residents moving out and properties being taken over by landlords with little interest in maintaining the houses. Housing charity Shelter worked in the area during the 1970s, investing money into refurbishing houses in what was one of the earliest examples of community neighbourhood regeneration.
context_section_description: By the early 1990s, around 150 of the 200 houses in the Granby Street site were unoccupied. The Granby Residents Association was established in 1993 in an effort to prevent the demolition of what were by then the last four remaining streets. The association lobbied the council throughout the 1990s despite further losses of streets in the surrounding area. In 1994, the Independent newspaper classed Toxteth as "one of the most deprived areas in Britain" as more residents left the area, however the residents' association was successful in preventing the final four streets from being demolished. The Housing Market Renewal Initiative was established in 2002 and identified the four streets as a potential site for new housing, although it was publicly criticised for measures that were perceived as social cleansing by pricing existing residents out of the area.
  Throughout 2003-2004, the majority of the properties were bought by Liverpool City Council and boarded up, while a smaller amount were purchased by the Housing Market Renewal Initiative. English Partnerships funded the council's acquisitions at a cost of £1,020,750 (£9,000 on average per property), although some were not acquired due to higher asking prices as a result of their superior condition. The council appointed Gleeson Group plc as the lead developer for the four streets.
  As late as 2010, remaining residents were pressured into selling their homes to the council for just £8,000. Around this time, the residents association group was disbanded, leaving the streets vulnerable to demolition. Following the formation of the coalition government in 2010, schemes funded by the previous government were reviewed and ultimately funding for the Housing Market Renewal Initiative, also known as the pathfinder scheme, was withdrawn with effect from 30 March 2011. The sudden withdrawal of funding left many schemes half–finished and some neighbourhoods only partially demolished, while in others, such as the remaining four streets in the Granby Triangle area, demolition had not begun. Liverpool City Council subsequently acquired many of the houses and left them to fall into further disrepair, with the worst cases seeing frontages collapse.
  Liverpool City Council secured a developer in late 2010 to refurbish properties in the remaining streets, at a cost of £2 million jointly funded by the council and the Homes and Communities Agency. Renovation started on Beaconsfield Street in 2012, with the reconstruction of 32 properties involving refurbishment to the facades, new kitchen extensions to the rear and the conversion of attics into additional bedroom space. Further streets formed part of later phases subject to available funds. In November 2011, residents formed a new campaign group titled the Granby Four Streets CLT (Community Land Trust) with its own board of trustees. The trust is not a legal entity in itself, deciding against becoming a charity or a business due to restrictive regulations. Funding was secured from various sources, including a social investor from Jersey keen on funding community groups, as well as from the CLT network and the charitable trust Power to Change. As well as overseeing local artwork and the monthly market, the board also operates as a landlord for various rented properties under their ownership.
caption: Cairns Street, pictured derelict in 2012
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