Coming off the back of news in November that Liverpool is to benefit from £700m for social/affordable housing the latest announcement of a new development corporation for Liverpool is great news for the city. The new Mayoral Development Corporation will help regenerate large areas of the city mainly focused around Liverpool docklands.
The MDC as it will be known will have the ability to fast track regeneration schemes around the North Docks area of the city centre stretching up to the new Everton Hill Dickinson stadium. There is an expectation that the new corporation will allow Liverpool City Council to deliver around 17,000 new homes and approximately 5/6 million sq ft of commercial office space
The new corporation is reminiscent of the MDC of the mid 1980’s when the Merseyside development corporation led by Michael Heseltine helped regenerate the city after many years of decline and problems. The regeneration of the Albert Dock was perhaps the most iconic benefit of the work enabled by the MDC.
Commenting on the announcement Liverpool’s Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham highlighted the benefits of the new plans “Liverpool’s iconic waterfront is one of the greatest assets in the country – but for generations, huge parts of the North Docks have stood as a reminder of the jobs and opportunities we lost after decades of post-industrial decline”.
“Local people have waited far too long to see this area brought back to life but, working in partnership with government, we’ve now got a once-in-a-generation chance to put that right.”
Whilst the majority of the regeneration and new development was likely to have happened anyway the establishment of the MDC promises to kick start the pace of the work and hopefully deliver new homes and jobs at a time when viability of the new development schemes is extremely difficult.
Although the news is a real positive for the city we are especially keen to see some of the new housing made available to owner occupiers rather than just investors. Currently practically all of the new housing being delivered in the city is aimed at investors with virtually none bieng bought by owner occupiers, despite there being a strong and growing demand from buyers who wish to make the city theri new home.
