Liverpool’s 294-home Welsh Streets project set for approval

A project to build and refurbish hundreds of homes in Liverpool is set to receive the greenlight.

The city council’s Cabinet will this week (June 23) approve a masterplan for the Welsh Streets area that will see 294 new homes created.

Comprising a mix of newbuilds and refurbished properties, 124 of the homes will have four bedrooms while 109 will have three and 61 two.

The council said that 194 of the houses will go for market rent, 35 will be available to buy, 35 will be shared ownership/rent to buy and 30 will be affordable rent.

The masterplan also outlines improvements to the streets and drainage, and the creation of new communal gardens.

The Welsh Streets vision has been drawn up in partnership with developer Placefirst, which is nearing completion on a pilot project to bring some terraced properties on High Park Street and Voelas Street, both near Princes Park, back into use.

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, said: “Placefirst have done an excellent job bringing some of the homes back into use as part of their pilot project, and together with the local community we have now drawn up some really exciting plans to breathe new life into the area and give it a long term, sustainable future.

“This is about providing certainty for the local community following years of frustration in which their wishes were thwarted by Central Government’s interference in the local planning process.”

He continued: “We’ve already demonstrated with the regeneration of Anfield and our Homes for a Pound scheme that we are leading the way in finding imaginative ways of retaining properties where it is viable to do so, and this project reflects our approach.”

Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet member for housing, Cllr Frank Hont, commented: “We have been working closely with the local community because there are a range of views about the way forward.

“We have done our very best to accommodate this by bringing forward proposals for a range of property sizes and tenures to suit a range of families and budgets.”

If the Cabinet approves the masterplan at its meeting on Friday (June 23), a planning application with more detailed proposals and designs will be submitted.