16 Jun 2021 11:06:37
Hi Eds and fellow Reds. I have a question for any Liverpudlians here about Anfield's redevelopment. I was admiring the pics of how nice the finished stadium will look and shared them with some friends who immediately shot back about the shame of Liverpool FC "forcing people out of their homes and intentionally letting the area around the ground fall into total disrepair to push down property prices. "

I'm a lifelong Red but a Dubliner, so I would love to get a sense of the real facts and feelings behind the whole thing from some locals. I know mistakes were made but have amends been made and how do people feel about the process overall? Thanks all YNWA and bring on Norwich! :)

{Ed002's Note - Your friends are correct - there was some degree of social cleansing of the Anfield area with Liverpool buying property and leaving it empty for years and persuading the Council to use Compulsory Purchase Orders to purchase the rest. After lying to the Council about their consulation with the locals about the plans for Anfield there was a delay and the two phased approach decided. In February 2020 Liverpool took out a mortgage on all assets (the Freehold and leasehold of Anfield and about 90 properties (some of which were obtained CPO) with the charge held by Natwest.}

1.) 16 Jun 2021
16 Jun 2021 11:32:03
Hmm, okay. So did they get above market value or have they been compensated? Will the Melwood housing project plus the development around the stadium really be beneficial? Overall in the long-run how do the local people of Liverpool feel about it?

2.) 16 Jun 2021
16 Jun 2021 11:38:54
As far as i’m concerned the club owe the locals and owe them badly. I seemed to think it was Hicks and Gillette who bought up all the property around the ground but it seems like i’m wrong. If i remember rightly a lot of it was round the back of the Sir Kenny Dalglish stand as the car park backed up right to the walls of the houses at the back. I could never understand why so many of them were empty and it seemed like such a shame, but as Ed has described it was the club that forced the people out. The boss little chippy right outside the Sir Kenny Dalglish stand closed a few years ago and again that seemed very strange. Have the locals taken up issue with the club or the council about any of this Ed002, because it very much seems to be, as you put it, ‘social cleansing’?

{Ed002's Note - They last took issue as far as I know afer the the club lied about the consultation process.}

3.) 16 Jun 2021
16 Jun 2021 12:50:58
The demand for old inner city housing, like around the Anfield area, has been falling for over 40 years and many similar parts of Britain show this pattern of increased disrepair, empty properties, private landlords moving in, and increased crime.
LFC have contributed to this issue locally, they’ve been buying up empty houses at rock bottom prices and leaving them empty for years.
But this was only part of a much larger problem.
The clearance of some old housing stock, redevelopment of new housing and the stadium may help to bring in new investment to the area but it’s a complex and long term issue.
Football brings in a lot of money to the city but its costs are largely felt by residents living around the two stadiums.

4.) 16 Jun 2021
16 Jun 2021 13:11:27
There were/ are (not sure anymore) a lot of empty house that Liverpool fc didn’t own in that area. The council did a project were you could buy a house for £1 but you had to renovate it yourself and not sell again within a certain time period. Am sure someone will correct me if am wrong. Unfortunately Compulsory Purchase Orders do happen just look at the HS2!

5.) 16 Jun 2021
16 Jun 2021 13:57:38
Was the same on Manchester and some of the far North areas of England I believe Longthing.

6.) 17 Jun 2021
17 Jun 2021 07:18:01
Think that was in the Kensington area not Anfieid Longthing.