Back to index of Nerve 14 - Summer 2009

"Guerrilla gardeners" from Granby

By Leo Singer

It's a few months since I moved to Princes Park area. I always wanted to live somewhere in the middle of Toxteth. Compared to other parts of town, the variety of housing, architecture styles, public spaces and cultures is very uplifting for me. On my regular walks through Granby, I discovered a hidden jewel of the area - the blooming Cairns Street.

When walking the street, it's impossible not to notice this green oasis in a derelict part of the inner city. An ordinary Victorian terraced street, full of boarded-up houses - as is now typical for Granby - suddenly explodes in colour. It is full of daffodils, tulips, roses, lavender, and bedding plants such as pansies and daisies, which are joined later in summer by sunflowers. Some are in raised beds, some are in flowerpots at the doors and many hang in baskets. Ivy, clematis and other climbing plants cover the facades of some houses. But it is not only about brightening up the street. People also grow their own food here: various vegetables such as courgette, sweetcorn, beans and fruit trees - apple, cherry, pear and plum. And last summer they had their first yield of runner beans and really delicious strawberries.

Cairns Street is one of the four streets doomed by the City Council. "'That Bloomin' Cairns Street' was set up to combat environmental dereliction and neglect," says Stella, one of the local residents. "We want to create an environment that is clean, green, environmentally friendly, aesthetically pleasing, well-maintained and well-managed." They didn't ask and wait for the Council go-ahead. As Eleanor said, they just did it because they knew it was the right decision and waiting for the Council could take forever. They are very proud of their community's achievements. "I think we nurture a spirit of mutual respect, co-operation and self-help that embraces people of all ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds," says Stella.

Cairns Street, within the Granby Renewal Area, has been designated for regeneration for the past fourteen years. Just like Ducie, Jermyn and Beaconsfield Streets, this once pretty Victorian terraced street is now filled with empty, boarded-up houses that have been allowed to rot for over a decade. In April 2007, the City Council approved plans for demolition and building of 237 new or refurbished houses in the 'four streets area'. To kick things off, the Council needs to acquire all properties and remove the remaining fifty residents. The first phase of demolition in Ducie Street was supposed to start in February this year, but the work has been postponed due to the financial crisis. The autonomous community development in Cairns Street is thus even more important than a mere example of local sustainability. It is a statement of the local neighbours' resilience; that they want to stay together and in the same place. Some of them have lived there for twenty or thirty years.

A spicy aspect of the whole renewal process is that the development company which won the bid and now stands against the interests of Cairns Street community is self-proclaimed "green capitalist" Lovell. The company is a well-known provider of housing stock for local councils and housing associations throughout the country. Lovell likes to present itself as a socially responsible company, which works in partnership with local communities. The company asks all its suppliers to act in support of fair trade and labour rights, and "to support the UN Declaration of Human Rights"(!). Lovell also invests in the Ecohomes initiative, sponsors "local good causes" and voluntarily bound itself to the ISO 14001 management criteria. They are also a member of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, a national initiative "created by the construction industry to improve its image".

In 2007, the Council set up a quango called The Granby Community Partnership with chairman John Earnshaw, a former Empty Homes campaigner. The partnership is made up of Council officers, ward councillors, the Lovell company and Granby Residents Association. We know that the strategy of mixed community/public/private partnerships serves to divide local neighbourhoods and co-opt the "rebels". So the challenge for Cairns Street residents will be to use this extra break - given to them by the capitalist crisis - to build their own alliances and win the public opinion to their side. Their project is already powerful. A new course for the area residents, funded by the Council, is called 'Growing Granby' and at its end the participants are expected to start...a community allotment in the Granby area!

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Comments:

Comment left by Phoebe Spence on 9th November, 2009 at 16:55
I'd really like to visit to see what's going on and talk to residents - I'm doing research into green neighbourhoods, used to live in Eversley St & was a member of Granby Housing Co-op

Comment left by Stuart Saint on 24th November, 2009 at 21:51
Not a comment on the article, just here to say that this is the second issue of Nerve I've read online and I think it's a great magazine. You're doing wonderful things and are publicising all of the great things about the magnificent city that is Liverpool. Yours, Stuart in Preston PR2.

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