New Year; Same Questions

One might have thought that after the Caller Report, there would have been real signs of change at Liverpool City Council and beyond, come the new year. So far, I have only seen public relations releases about various plans which are envisaged for some future date. Meanwhile, it is business as usual. Perhaps I am being unfair; but what I am not unfair about are the facts on the ground as we embark upon 2022.

1) We can now confirm that Liverpool Foundation Housing – a company set up to deliver “10,000 homes” – came (and went) at a cost. In its wisdom, the council approved salaries for its board of £45,000 per annum. Its chair was former councillor and pal of Joe Anderson, Frank Hont, appointed after he lost his council seat. There were, of course, “employer on-costs” further to this figure. Not bad for a totally failed venture.

2) We also now have it confirmed that around £1 million per annum was dished out to individuals and organisations at the whim of the mayor. This so-called “Mayor’s Fund” was transmuted into the “City Fund” as Joe Anderson’s star imploded. It might interest some council tax payers to look at the lists of recipients on the “What Do They Know” website. You never can tell what gems lie therein.

3) Of wider interest within the city-region is the on-going ladling of cash to the Peel organisation. One of its many local interest (about which I have written before) is John Lennon Airport. It continues to be a loss-making operation. These losses were £19.7 million in 2020 and £16.14 million in 2021. Covid has been something of a factor of late, but the airport had been going downhill long before Covid was an issue. It faces major challenges in the future which emanate largely from national commitments. These include a national passenger cap, reducing the numbers of passengers across the country, and a move towards zero aircraft emissions by 2050. Perhaps Peel will move to rid itself of the airport as it did once before. Besides, they have an uncanny knack of sustaining losses whilst building up their reserves off-shore. Why, therefore, would the Combined Authority “lend” £34 million to the airport, effectively giving Peel yet another bail out?

4) Put your mind to this one. Between 12/01/2012 and 21/12/2021, the Liverpool City Council sold off 759 properties. Some were single sites or houses; others were multiple dwellings. That has been a steady series of tasters for property speculators but where did the proceeds go? We already know that councillors have argued for a reduction in the Section 106 monies due to the council from some developers. We also know that other developers have simply failed to stump up with impunity. Is the city a scam artist’s dream or what?

5) I recently mentioned concerns expressed about the future of the iconic Woolton Cinema. Now another Woolton landmark has been brought to my attention – Woolton Baths. Key figures in its promised restoration were Peter Eustace and television personality Simon O’Brien. More importantly, funds were raised by public donations for the restoration of the baths. Now it is said to be used as a location for a popular day-time television programme – not, I believe, what donors had in mind.

6) Look at the photo above. You might recall that I outlined troubles in the once highly regarded Eldonians’ initiative. Imagine getting up on Christmas Day to find that you had been stigmatised as a “grass” on the walls of your home. This, as you can see, was the Christmas gift from some demented idiot to the chairwoman of the Eldonian Residents Association. Its clear intention was to intimidate her. Her crime was, in the view of the warped person responsible, to do exactly what residents had elected her to do – to speak up for their interests.

Tony McGann was the original driving force behind the Eldonians. Love him or hate him – he got things done. Now retired, a new generation is now responsible for the clutch of companies within the Eldonian collective. The key figures now appear to be younger members of the McGann family, along with their associates, especially members of the Gwynne family. Interestingly, the latter all appear to list their address as one in Aigburth, south Liverpool, far from the streets of Vauxhall, home to the Eldonians.

New times, a new generation of leaders, you may say, but also a time when Eldonian properties have been virtually given away to anonymous companies based in overseas tax havens. Even an agreement with Merseyside Police for neighbourhood policing has been rescinded, replaced with what elderly residents see as an intimidatory private security firm making forays onto the Eldonian estate.

Not a happy situation.

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