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Housing Market Renewal Initiative (HMRI)

HMRI is a government initiative, which aims to tackle problems  of housing market failure, mainly in the private sector. This includes housing in poor condition and large-scale abandonment in areas where there are high levels of empty properties or unpopular housing.

Wirral is part of the Merseyside Market Renewal Pathfinder called Newheartlands, which is one of nine pathfinders throughout England. Birkenhead, Tranmere and Seacombe together with parts of the Bidston and Liscard Wards will benefit from the initiatve.

Click here for a copy of the Newheartlands Prospectus years 1-3, which provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities facing Wirral, Liverpool & Sefton Councils and their proposals for reviving local housing markets.

Through investment and innovation, the initiative will provide lasting solutions for local communities such as decent, quality mixed tenure homes, access to jobs, better transport and more attractive living environments.

Living Through Change Scheme

Alongside the physical investment in HMRI, a programme of non-physical investment is currently underway which is focusing upon maintaining neighbourhood stability, community safety and environmental standards in areas that are to undergo major housing market intervention. The programme aims to maintain comfortable, safe and secure living standards to help residents live through large-scale change which housing market renewal brings.

Since 2002 the Lving Through Change Programme has expanded and gone from strength to strength and now incorporates many schemes including:

  • Environmental Wardens
  • Neightbourhood Wardens
  • Target Hardening
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Environmental Improvement Schemes
  • Community Art Regeneration Projext
  • Home Movers Scheme
  • Handy Person Scheme
  • Landlord Accreditation Scheme

 

Masterplanning

As part of Wirral's ongoing HMRI programme, three Masterplanning exercises have been undertaken with the rigorous programme of community consultation to ensure the process was as inclusive as possible. All three Masterplans demonstrated overwhelming support for radical redevelopment of areas of acute housing market failure, however they also highlighted the need for continued, sensitive community engagement to develop the Masterplans further into frameworks for regeneration at a neighbourhood level. The frameworks for regeneration will now be brought forward with the additional input from Wirral's private developer partners for each area. In autumn 2005 we received funds from the ODPM (Office of Deputy Prime Minister), these funds determined the programme delivery for 2006/2008

The three Masterplanning areas are:

  • Church Road, Tranmere
  • Fiveway's, Rock Ferry
  • North Birkenhead & Bidston

The delivery of the HMRI programme in Wirral has been imformed by the Strategy for Inner Wirral 2004-2014. The strategy offers a ten-year programme of activity that seeks to redress the blanace between failing housing markets and associated measures of deprivation.  To download the Executive Summary of the strategy click here. To request the whole document, please contact the strategy & regeneration team.

If you would like to find out more about Wirral's Housing Market Renewal Initiative and how it might affect you. Click here to download the 'frequently asked questions' leaflet.

 

See Also