The Problems of Liverpool
The changing world in which we live can bring with it not only greater prosperity but also the need for painful adjustment. Such problems have been particularly acute for those great cities like Liverpool, and Liverpool is a great city, which grew rapidly in response to the burgeoning demands of the first industrial revolution. They are not unique to Liverpool but are being experienced in many places both in this country and elsewhere in Europe.
The shifting patterns of trade and industry have worked against Liverpool, for example the long term decline of the port—and with it the traditional industry and commerce which were the source of so many jobs.
Liverpool's decline has been particularly steep. Even before the world recession the city was losing 11,000 jobs a year. Over the last twenty years it has lost a third of its population and often these have included a disproportionate share of the able and adventurous. [end p1]
The Government's Response
The Government recognises fully the impact which these fundamental changes in our society and our economy have had on Liverpool. In 1981 I asked Michael Heseltine to take a special interest in the area. This responsibility is now with Patrick Jenkin.
The Government has made available substantial resources to help Liverpool tackle the problems it faces. But as important as the amount of money, is the way it is spent. Since coming into office in 1979, the Government has fought a long but increasingly successful battle of ideas about how jobs and prosperity can be created. Over many years, the view had grown up that the key lay in Government spending and borrowing. Quite wrongly the name of Keynes was invoked in support.
It is now recognised that high Government spending and ambitious public sector programmes led inevitably to high taxes, high inflation, high interest rates—all of which will destroy jobs. This battle of ideas is now being won, not just in Britain, but in socialist countries abroad.
But we see now in a number of our cities, and particularly here in Liverpool, a municipal version of the big Government thesis. [end p2]
But this cannot work for much the same reasons. High rates drive away businesses that provide jobs and the lion's share of the council's rate income. Restrictive planning controls inhibit new developments. The process of economic decline would not be arrested but accelerated.
The Government has broken away from these outmoded prescriptions. Our goal is to create the climate in which enterprise will flourish, by keeping taxes down and interest rates down. Where special help is needed it should come through public expenditure programmes which encourage the energies and enterprise of the private sector rather than supplant them.
The resources available to Merseyside are substantial. They are not merely financial; nor are they the monopoly of the public sector.
At the heart of the Government's inner city policy lies the concept of partnership with the private sector—the business community and voluntary services. Liverpool was built on the motivation, energy and resources produced by individual initiative and enterprise. These qualities must again be harnessed in the process of revitalisation.
Through the taxpayer, this Government has played a full supporting role. The highest rates of regional assistance to industry and commerce are available here in Liverpool. [end p3] The Inner City Partnership Programme seeks to stimulate the economy of the inner area by reclaiming derelict land, improving the environment and supporting voluntary effort. Over £120 million has been made available to the Partnership since we took office in 1979.
In 1981 we established the Merseyside Development Corporation to tackle 840 acres of rundown dockland on the Liverpool and Birkenhead waterfront. Later today I shall be visiting its most spectacular achievement to date—the International Garden Festival—seen already by over three million visitors. When the event was announced in late 1981, many said it could not be done in time. They were proved wrong. The Festival has demonstrated what Liverpool people can do here in Liverpool.
And that's not all the Government is doing. There's —an Enterprise Zone at Speke; —a Freeport, the largest in the UK, in the Northern Docks; —English Estates reclaiming the old Tate and Lyle site, and developing the old Exchange Station which lay derelict for so long; —17,000 places in Merseyside under the Youth [end p4] Training Scheme.
Working both with the private sector, local authorities and Government Agencies, the Merseyside Task Force has helped to establish a wide variety of innovative schemes—many conceived and implemented here on Merseyside for the first time anywhere.
Let no one say the Government is not playing its part. The facts speak for themselves.
CONTRIBUTION OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR
And there has been an encouraging response from the private sector.
I am looking forward later this afternoon to seeing the refurbishment scheme that is taking place on the Albert Dock. £20 million of public money is being matched with £30 million of private funding to convert this famous building into offices, shops and flats.
But there are other examples: —BAT's conversion scheme in the South Docks —the refurbishment of the famous Adelphi Hotel —ten new Information Technology centres on [end p5] Merseyside established with private sector support.
HOUSING
Today I have seen some of Liverpool's housing which illustrates clearly both the problems and the opportunities. Though built with the best of intentions, much of it reflects immediate post-war policies whose legacy has been housing which is ill-planned, poorly constructed and badly managed.
Improvements are needed urgently but in a way which is not only represents good value for money but which also provides housing choice and utilises the energies of local people. One cardinal lesson of the past is that public authorities don't always know best.
Encouraging owner occupation is the surest way of gaining lasting improvements in living conditions. I am justly proud of this Government's record on that.
Of course in the cities like Liverpool there will always be a substantial role for council housing. But the conditions for existing tenants cannot be improved simply by demolishing old houses and building new ones. Indeed we have learned that it is often better to keep communities together by better maintenance and management of existing properties. [end p6]
There are many encouraging examples on Merseyside of partnership with the private sector: Stockbridge Village, Edge Lane in Sefton and Woodchurch in Wirral. Local tenants are at work in improving their own housing and gaining satisfaction in so doing. Over six thousand dwellings are benefiting.
Barratts, Wimpeys and others have been active for some years in building housing for sale in inner Liverpool. I saw this morning the result of an imaginative scheme at Minster Court where Barratts have converted rundown tenement blocks into much sought after private flats.
I hope that other authorities facing similar housing problems will look at some examples of what is being achieved in Liverpool.
WAVERTREE TECHNOLOGY PARK
We stand here on one of the most dramatic regeneration projects in the heart of Liverpool. For years the site of this Wavertree Technology Park presented a depressing spectacle of rundown buildings and abandoned railway sidings. Work began less than two years ago—and just look at the transformation. Government have provided £6 million to the County Council in Derelict Land Grant—to remove the [end p7] eyesores, level the site and provide roads and services. In very little time an attractive location for high technology industry has been created.
A Technology Park Company involving Plesseys, English Estates and the City and County authorities has been set up under the Chairmanship of Sir John Clark.
Already you can see a 40,000 square foot factory which has been occupied by 300 people. Work has started to provide further smaller units. May I congratulate you, Sir John, and all those who have worked with you on your vision and energy in bringing this about.
The creation of the Wavertree Technology Park shows what can be achieved by the private and public sector working together. This is the future for Liverpool.
“MEET THE BUYER” EXHIBITION
At the end of the day, it is for the producer to find a market for his goods and services. For it is customers that make pay days possible.
We can see this clearly here on Merseyside. At Vauxhall, for example, attractive new models can bring new investment and jobs. [end p8]
Many smaller firms, however good technologically, find it difficult to make contact with the large companies. And the reverse is true. By bringing them together we can make the best use of the creative potential of the small, thrusting company and the massive resources of the well-established household names.
I therefore take pleasure in opening this “Meet the Buyer” exhibition. I hope that everyone who attends it will make the most of the genuine opportunities which it presents.