Secretary of State Issues Notice Stalling Liverpool's Demolition Plans
18 April 2011
Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary, has issued Liverpool Council with an Article 25 Direction forbidding them to give consent for demolishing the Welsh Streets until he has considered a request by SAVE to require a full environmental assessment.
Demolition plans are due to be considered by the council at a meeting at 9.30am on 19 April, but now a final decision on demolition will have to wait until the Secretary of State has had a chance to review SAVE's request for a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be carried out. Up to now the council has claimed that the demolition of nearly 300 houses in the area 'will not give rise to any significant effects on the environment'. SAVE has challenged this - stating that the council has failed to take into account the the effect of the wider HMR scheme; the loss of embodied energy; the pollution and noise impacts of demolition; the loss of material assets and the loss of cultural heritage.
More on SAVE and the Welsh Streets here
Join the campaign to save the Welsh Streets
SAVE Report - Housing Scandal! Pathfinder: a Postmortem
Article 25 Letter from Secretary of State