Buoyed by the new Labour Government’s commitment to ‘get building’ Liverpool city council pushes on with its plan to enable the building of 2,000 new homes a year. Tony McDonough reports

A recently-completed housing development in north Liverpool by Torus

Liverpool City Council is seeking public views on its plan to enable the building of thousands of new homes across the city.

With Liverpool expected to grow by more than 40,000 households within 20 years the authority sees the acceleration of housebuilding as a priority. In May it unveiled a strategy that would see an extra 8,000 homes built by 2027, 20% of them class as affordable.

To be classed as affordable a house or apartment must be offered at a rent or sale price no higher than 80% of the local market rate. The city also sees the importance of seeing  more expensive homes built to help generate higher council tax receipts.

Last week Labour leader Keir Starmer led the party to a storming landslide victory in the general election. He has promised better planning processes to get the UK building homes and infrastructure. This week he vowed to “put rocket boosters under Liverpool”.

Buoyed by this commitment from Whitehall Liverpool City Council will now push on with its plans for more homes. It has set out a vision to see 2,000 new homes a year built across the city between now and 2030.

It also wants to reduce the number of empty properties and tackle homelessness in its new draft housing strategy, which once implemented will shape a £1bn-plus building programme.

And it has set out a commitment to develop brownfield sites and is currently working on schemes including Festival Gardens, Liverpool Waters, King’s Dock and Paddington Village.

City council leader Liam Robinson said: “The new Government has set out its mission to change the housing landscape of this country – and Liverpool stands ready to play its part.

“The council recognises the challenges people face to get on the property ladder, which is why our new draft housing strategy has set out a target for 2,000 new homes a year, with a fifth being affordable.

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“The underlying problem of supply and demand is also at the heart of our mission – which is why we are working with a range of partners to unlock key brownfield sites and to systematically reduce the number of empty properties.

“Together this will help kickstart a £1 billion boom in housebuilding across the city, which will have a huge impact on our economy and workforce.”

Liam Robinson, Labour leader of Liverpool City Council. Picture from Liverpool City Council

The draft housing strategy consultation runs until Friday, September 6 and features an online survey, which is available by clicking here. People can also email feedback to: housing.strategy@liverpool.gov.uk

There will also be three community feedback days where residents can come and talk to community researchers and officers about the strategy and get assistance in completing the survey:

Central Library: 9am to 6pm, Wednesday, August 7
Spellow Library: 10am to 6pm, Monday, August 12
Garston Library: 9am to 4.30pm, Tuesday, August 13

In addition, the council’s consultants on the draft strategy, Campbell Tickell, will host focus groups to target communities who are typically underrepresented in resident surveys.

Councillor Sam East, Cabinet member for Housing at Liverpool City Council, added: “Housing provides the cornerstone of peoples’ lives – shaping the social fabric of the places we live, our health and wellbeing, and the opportunities we have to learn, work and play.

“Whilst the recent homelessness crisis in Liverpool has necessitated emergency action, we want this strategy to provide a longer-term framework to ensure individuals and families can always access homely and sustainable living in the future.”