More than 40 delegates from around the country visited Anfield Stadium recently to witness a unique housing development in the area.
Representatives from locations including London, Leeds, Newcastle and Lancashire were invited to Liverpool by the Affordable Housing Development Company, who have saved a row of Victorian terraced houses in Tancred Road from demolition and restored them to their former glory.
For the past eight years, properties have been uninhabitable, but now, much to the delight of the local community, they are being put back on the market with the help of Liverpool based estate agent Sutton Kersh for between £140,000 and £150,000.
During the one-day conference, delegates heard speeches from people involved in the scheme including Brian Cronin from Arena Housing, chief executive office for New Heartlands Pauline Davis and Bill Richardson, who is chairman of the Rockfield and Granton Plus Residents Associations.
Bill said: "It is great that delegates from around the country have made this visit to see the wonderful work that has happened in our area. I have been fighting for these changes for the past eight years and I really think that if you have a problem and you search hard enough, you will always find a solution."
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The development has also been hailed a success by Liverpool football club's chief executive Rick Parry.
Ian Robinson, director of AHDC, said: ""Regeneration is often a controversial issue however the model of regeneration offered by
the Affordable Housing development Company (AHDC) is winning universal acceptance and praise from all concerned.
"At this month's conference, the most often stated response
from delegates was that they were stunned by what has been achieved in Rockfield. Residents, new buyers and the government all seem to have got what they wanted which is regeneration of
their existing area and homes. The results are indeed 'unbelievable'! These houses are simply fantastic."
AHDC was created in 2002 to participate in the enormous task of regenerating areas of deprivation in England's cities. Although huge resources are devoted to this task already by central and local government, they can never be sufficient for the challenges that currently exist.
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