Liverpool housing executive member Richard Kemp resigned last Friday after he received hate mail over a failed regeneration scheme.
The leading Liberal Democrat councillor stepped down after two weeks of pressure over the failed £170m regeneration of an estate

in the city's Norris Green area culminated in the letters. The plan was to knock down 1500 defective houses and rebuild 1700 as a mix of tenures, but problems surfaced earlier this month in a report to the council (HT 5 December, page 7). The report said the plan was "not appropriate, deliverable or affordable" and the business plan "not fit for purpose". Despite these problems, a first phase of redevelopment has been agreed.

Kemp said controversy about the scheme had escalated into criticism of the city's entire housing programme. He said a barrage of verbal attacks had become personal and culminated in hate mail. He said: "As executive member for housing, I must take full responsibility.

"The buck stops with me. Now the future of the estate has been secured, I think it is in everyone's interests to make a fresh start."

Kemp will return to the backbenches but will continue to advise the council on technical matters. He will continue to work with the Improvement and Development Agency, where he is a voluntary inspection team member.

Regeneration executive member Flo Clucas has taken over the Liverpool housing role.

Council leader Mike Storey said Kemp's contribution since the Liberal Democrats took over the council in 1999 had been "vast". Storey said Kemp had helped to obtain more than £350m to improve housing through stock transfers, had developed the largest antisocial behaviour unit in the UK and helped Liverpool win one of the first two Beacon Status awards for the city council's Community Legal Services Partnership.

Source

Housing Today