Mrs Elizabeth Pascoe - In her words.
The 'Leaving' Party:
Saturday 16th January 2010 saw a sad occasion. The 'Leaving Do' (or house losing party) was attended by many people near and far. Some who had been through exactly the same situation as Elizabeth and hounded to leave their houses sooner, some who had mixed feelings passing their old street to come to Elizabeth's House. We had local residents, local campaigners, Civic Designers, Expert Witnesses and Councillors who supported Elizabeth from the start here to share in this occasion. 'Shop' talk was banned, but it did not stop us reflecting on what a waste of a perfectly good safe and well kept house it all was and that no one should ever have to go though this ordeal at any stage in their life. We were greeted to a candle lit entry which set the scene for the grand night and fought our way through the crowd to find the beer, wine and people to discuss our local issues with. There were words of sadness from the people who looked around the the well kept house. There were words of comfort to Elizabeth in which we said we would be there at any time for her but there was also a strange quietness - a house full of life and music soon to be a plot of nothing.There was an upside to the evening - the only upside of having no neighbours either side - means that we could fit a live band in the front room who kept us entertained all night!The beer flowed, pictures were taken and video footage was captured. But as the party came to a close neigh on 3am, the house suddenly became quiet - too quiet - as if the house itself had one last sing song flicking through its memories only to be resigned to the fact that its purpose of a family house was cut all to short in its prime.Elizabeth Pascoe - In Her Words:The intention of disposing of my community which included very long-standing businesses (nor just homes) was to 'assemble sites for potential developers'. The assertion was that their scheme could be performed 'in timely fashion' and it was 'for the wider public interest'. So far I have met no member of the wider public who is against me / wanted me to lose my home. In fact everyone is against 'them' even before they realise who I am. There are a few vociferous people that supposedly do speak for the wider community, who have their own 'agenda' and are known by the wider community as being entirely motivated by self-interest (and certainly not liked).What has been said by experts is the fact that I lost, allowing that I had 70 witnesses, 35 of whom attended the Inquiry from places such as Oxford Cambridge London and so forth (13 universities were represented) entirely at their own expense, proves that the whole so called democratic process is a very expensive farce.The judge had every sympathy with us, but could see that resistance was futile.
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Over four hundred homes in Liverpool face demolition, as part of the government's plans to raise house prices in the North and Midlands of England. This is another project within the 'Pathfinder' housing market renewal scheme, and is also linked to the preparation for Liverpool's term as 'City of Culture 2008'. To the residents of Liverpool's Edge Lane West, however, the scheme looks very much more like part of a culture of total disrespect for local residents on the part of politicians and corporations.Ranged against the regeneration industry is an alliance of local residents, many organised under the banner of BEVEL -- 'better environmental vision for edge lane'. BEVEL are facing the regeneration qangos' legal team, and have already had to endure a series of pre-inquiry meetings before proceedings have even started. BEVEL have drawn up an alternative plan for Edge Lane West, and are pushing for the authorities to accept it.And BEVEL are not fighting alone -- they have support from a large number of community and heritage groups, as well as from other neighbourhoods scheduled to face the developers' axe as part of this 'regerneration' project. Local campaigners across the UK are all looking at what happens in Liverpool, and hope that the Edge Lane residents manage to face down the corporations and establish control over what happens to their streets.Edge Lane is the road that links the end of the M62 with Hall Lane - just on the outskirts of Liverpool City Centre. Once a single track road, which could be found on maps dating back to 1768, it is now a throughfare for traffic heading in to town from the M62.With more and more traffic on the roads, Edge Lane has come under an idea which sees the widening of the road in certain areas and a more structured traffic management system in time for the celebrations of the city for 2008.Edge Lane also holds many beautiful Victorian houses that may be lost if this plan goes ahead and rather than welcome our new visitors to Liverpool in which they can see our heritage from the word go, they may now be faced with bland 'prefab' houses which will soon date very quickly and will not last half the time these Victorian houses have so far.We have created this website to show the ideas behind Edge Lane, the good, the bad and the proposed demolition!
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Better Environmental Vision 4 Edge Lane
B. E. V. E. L.
