The Great British Housing Scandal

Madryn Street - Welsh Streets - North West - Liverpool - SAVE — Madryn Street is one of the so-called Welsh Streets in Toxteth. Ringo Starr lived at No9 and SAVE bought and restored No21 to prove the houses were sound. All the houses have now been restored and the streets hum with life again

How SAVE thwarted council plans to demolish hundreds of Liverpool’s iconic terraced houses

SAVE has been instrumental in saving many of Liverpool’s most-loved buildings, and the battle to save the iconic Welsh Streets was one of our most hard-fought campaigns.

The Welsh Streets are a grid of historically significant Victorian terraced houses in Toxteth designed in the 1870s by renowned Welsh architect, Richard Owen. The estate of more than 400 homes was originally built for Welsh families and industrial workers arriving in the city, and continued to house a thriving community that was once home to Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr.

In what amounted to a national scandal, almost all properties on the Welsh Streets were systematically emptied and boarded up in the early 2000s, leaving the houses, and the vibrant community spirit within them, to decay. And what’s worse – it was done with the full support of the government. Under John Prescott’s scandalous 2005 Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder policy, up to 400,000 homes across the north of England and Midlands were targeted for demolition. 18,000 of them were in Merseyside.

Despite the cancellation of the Pathfinder policy in 2011, Liverpool City Council still attempted large-scale demolition of the Welsh Streets, and SAVE led the opposition to this demolition at a public inquiry in 2014. Following a fierce community-led campaign, we successfully challenged the demolition plans and fought to shift national public policy towards renovation over demolition.

Welsh Streets - North West - Liverpool - after c2023 - c JB — Voelas Street pictured 10 years after SAVE forced a public inquiry into the managed decline and demolition of the Welsh Streets. The houses were refurbished and converted, two-into-one, into contemporary family homes

During this campaign, we:

Published a damning report, Pathfinder (SAVE, 2006), that drew national attention to the scandalous waste of good housing stock and exposed the shameful community clearance scheme for what it was.
Argued relentlessly for the heritage value of the terraced streets, which was finally recognised by the Secretary of State in 2015.
Campaigned with Merseyside Civic Society to have Ringo Starr’s birth home on Madryn Street listed.
Purchased one of the houses, 21 Madryn Street - just doors from Ringo Starr's birthplace and the home of his aunt. We worked with a local team to renovate the property, proving these homes could be easily and affordably refurbished and providing a home for a young couple on the street.
The story was told by George Clarke on Channel 4's 2011 TV series, Great British Property Scandal.
Won the hard-fought public inquiry in 2014 that resulted in the Secretary of State overturning the recommendations of his planning inspector and refusing the demolition plans.

In 2017, we were delighted to welcome the first phase of restoration of the Welsh Streets, unveiled by Manchester-based housing developer Place First. By 2024, the award-winning renovation was complete. The houses have been adapted and transformed to provide a variety of 2, 3 and 4-bedroom homes, with the facades carefully restored.