EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Outstanding achievement in local leadership: The Eldonians, Liverpool

Outstanding achievement in local leadership: The Eldonians, Liverpool

Introduction

In 1976, Liverpool City Council had identified 57 slum clearance areas across the city including most of the 1930s tenements from the south end to the city centre and through to the docklands area in the north. Areas marked for demolition included the tenements around the Burlington and Eldon Streets in the Vauxhall area, affecting some 1,500 people. These plans were not based on any consultation with those who lived in these communities. Therefore, residents formed the Eldonian Community Association, invited professionals to work with them to plan new housing and quickly decided to ‘take over the whole neighbourhood. This meant planning for new housing, facilities, a new environment and training and jobs for local people; all under the control of the Eldonian organisation.

Description

To enable these plans, the Eldonians formed a housing co-operative to build over 100 new houses for families in the Portland Gardens tenements. Plans were scuppered when the Labour Party won control of the Council in 1983. At that time, the Council was dominated by the Militant tendency, which supported municipal control of all aspects of public housing, and thus took over the co-op’s houses.

There were still other tenements in the neighbourhood, namely at Eldon and Burlington Streets, and the Eldonians were determined to have their way. They established another housing co-op, the Eldonian Housing Co-op, to re-house those families that still wished to remain in the neighbourhood. They identified a nearby site large enough to accommodate the 145 families, being the site of the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery that shut down in 1981.

Today, the Eldonian Village is one of the UK’s leading examples of a sustainable community, and is still growing. The achievement is not just the scale of the physical regeneration, with all the new buildings and environmental re-ordering. What makes it remarkable is that the decisions, the early struggles, and the ongoing development all came from the residents themselves, who still provide the leadership.

Source: Academy for Sustainable Communities

Results

The Eldonian Community Based Housing Association manages 523 properties and employs 30 staff. The Eldonian Group (Development Trust) owns and manages the facilities on site and offers consultancy services. It employs over 50 people.

Learning experiences

The Eldonian Village found certain approaches to be particularly effective:

Develop a vision: a clear vision of the ultimate goal must be developed and owned by all those involved;
Create projects: funding bodies prefer to allocate resources to an ongoing programme of improvement;
A clear focus: strong leadership within the community helps local organisations to stay focussed, and to remain determined in the face of setbacks;
Be active in local politics: the Eldonians avoided becoming ‘victims’ of political decisions, by being politically active through their own Ward Party;
Enlist professional help: the Eldonians sought the advice and help of professionals who were committed to their cause;
Acquire local assets: the Eldonian organisation owns all its houses, the land and the facilities, which gives them significant influence;
Initiate partnerships: it is important to be part of networks that lead to investment in the neighbourhood;
Take stock: a successful neighbourhood organisation will take stock of where it is going and how well it is doing from time to time;
Publicise success: communicating successes helps to attract new stakeholders and to show funders how investment is being well-spent;
Knowledge sharing: keep in touch and develop alliance with like-minded organisations, in order to share and learn from other people’s experiences.

Contact info

The Eldonians
Liverpool
Margaret Dragonette, tel. +44-(0)151-207-3406

Project start date

01/07/2008

Links

Click here to visit the Eldonians website Visit the Academy for Sustainable Community's case study showcase

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy

Keywords

Housing