Did anyone else hear about the woman in Kirby who applied for planning permission to knock down Terry Leahy (Tesco boss)’s house in order to build a community garden on the space?

Absolutely priceless:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7344045.stm

Shame you don’t know what you’re on about. This was a much wider regen and jobs issue than Skem vs Kirkby and, despite technical reasons given, was evidently a stitch up of convenience with a post-Brown world in mind.

Well – I often don’t know what I’m on about, but I do know a fair amount about this one. Let’s try not to be rude.

It certainly wasn’t a Skem vs Kirkby appeal to govt – a number of groups asked for a govt-level enquiry into the Kirkby proposal. The concern about an all-encompassing retail monster in one place sucking all hope of life, employment and advance out of others was widespread, and continues to be. I hear on the traps that Everton may apply again. Rumour of course, but let’s have it.

The story anyway is not about Skem vs Kirkby or Tesco or Everton or anyone – you’ll notice I only poked a par about that on the end and I don’t remember anyone I spoke to in Skem resenting the people of Kirkby and Knowsley in their bid. The story is that there seems to only really be one regeneration idea in town at the moment – retail and private-flats-for-sale development – and that ain’t such a goer in a recession. Even if it was a goer, people like the ones I interviewed are very concerned that they won’t be part of it, because they’re not of the right stripe. New towns may or may not have worked as a concept, but at least they had a sort of socialist visionary behind them. Today, we’ve largely got big developers behind the likes of Skem Vision. They want to sell shop space and flats. If you can’t afford the flats, you’re out.

Anyway – this is the sort of issue everyday punters are dealing with. Their views are worth recording.

Etc

Hey,

One of the reasons it may appear that I don’t know what I’m talking about is that the site I’m linking to where the full story sits is down BECAUSE MY SERVER IS DOWN AGAIN.

Hopefully, it’ll be up again soon.

Clearly, there is a God and he is a Labour party member.

Bugger

I’m not disputing that God is a Labour Party member, but isn’t the relevant district and county administration Tory, so wouldn’t God have an interest in keeping your site up in this case?

Kate, God isn’t a Labour Party member. In order to be one, you have to join in the constituency you live in, and God lives in all of them… let’s not kid ourselves that this sort of thing doesn’t go on under Labour councils, either.

Article would be stronger if it dealt with Tesco’s claim to have popular support. AIUI the opposition comes from those who built a housing co-op in the early 1990s. No idea what proportion of the whole that is, but if Tesco want to get on with it as fast as possible maybe they can work round the co-op or move it a few hundred yards only. Nor am I sure that attacking Tesco’s boss personally, as they did, is the best way to get a result – oh, silly me, these are scousers, bound to be more interested in sustaining their sense of victimhood than in finding a solution that meets everyone’s needs.

Mike,

You’ve missed the point. I said God was a Labour party member because he’d knocked down the server which carries the site I’ve linked to, which has the whole story on it. The story takes several knocks at the Labour party, which is why I said God must be a Labour party member. The part I’ve uploaded here is only a short part of the story – Unity and I decided it was best not to upload the whole thing because it was so long.

So, the article is pretty strong. It just ain’t accessible right now.

Might upload it to this site later, if the other site comes back up soon.

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