Tranmere residents say Fountain Street is 'like a war zone'

Oct 14 2009 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

Home ‘war zone’

LIFE in Tranmere’s Fountain Street and Whitford Road is “horrendous”, residents say, thanks to an area demolished of houses and left to rot for three years.

Land covering roughly two to three football pitches was cleared of homes in August 2006, under a compulsory purchase scheme with the promise of regeneration.

This appeared to be closer to reality in April last year, when developer Lovell submitted a planning application for 56 houses on the site, as part of the Church Road ‘masterplan’.

But since then, it’s all gone eerily quiet and the noise and promise of development has been replaced by the rowdiness of anti-social behaviour, the screams of mini-moto engines and the crackle of late-night fires burning fly-tipped furniture.

Elaine Smith, 48, has lived on Fountain Street for 24 years and says it has become “absolutely horrendous”, while neighbour Philip Boyce, 43, describes it as “an eyesore” and young father-of-three, Tom Wilkinson feels “it’s like living in a war zone”.

The Green Party’s Patrick Cleary has taken up the case. He said: “When it’s left like that the area becomes littered and not looked after.

“It undermines the local community.”

A spokesperson for Wirral Council: “We fully recognise and understand the frustrations of residents who want the programme to move faster and we are optimistic that we will be able to give them news of a decision on the funding in the near future.”