Neill Dunne, Liverpool Socialist Party
A campaign in Kirkby, Merseyside is opposing the construction of 807 houses in one of the most deprived towns in Britain.
In Kirkby, there used to be three senior schools, now there are two. Both are full.
In the wider borough, Knowsley has gone from 16 high schools and colleges, to eight. Seven are privately run academies.
Kids go by bus to towns miles away to access school. In many towns, doctor’s surgeries have amalgamated, meaning further to travel and longer waits.
Dentistry has become an exclusive club. Many are forced to go outside their town, or even further. This is happening in Kirkby at a critical level.
Of the 807 new properties, only 80 will be for so-called ‘affordable’ housing, which will not alleviate the property pool problems in Knowsley. Many local residents cannot afford to buy or rent the remaining 720 properties, meaning gentrification – forced out to find cheaper housing.
The proposed land that these houses will be built on is the old college campus, which was closed down, and also my old senior school, which was knocked down during the academisation period. It was deemed “unfit for purpose”, while it was in fantastic shape.
The white asbestos that resides under the ground in the vicinity of the college campus is also in the vicinity of many housing estates, including Whinberry Grange, and very close to the shopping centre. This provides its own drastic health concerns.
Kirkby campaigns are already active in preventing a harmful waste incinerator plant being built.
Knowsley Labour council appears to be completely unwilling to build a senior school to deal with the increased demand in the area. The council is unwilling to regulate rents, and there’s very little action against landlords whose properties lack basic maintenance.
The town’s amenities and infrastructure have fallen behind accessible levels. The campaign in Kirkby calling on the council to put the construction of essential services first.
We need new council homes. Building expensive private homes in densely populated areas is not the solution.
The failure of Thatcherism and ‘right to buy’, carried on by successive Tory and Labour governments, reduced the supply of housing with an increasing population, which in turn forced rents up. This was hugely detrimental, while wages stagnated.