The Eldonian Initiative

Eldonian Group
Liverpool
7 Eldonian Way
Eldonian Village
Vauxhall
Liverpool
L3 6LG

An Historical Summary

The Eldonian Village is located at the end of the Leeds-Liverpool canal in the Vauxhall ward, off a main arterial route out of Liverpool City Centre, and close to the north docks of the city. It is an inner-city area just on the outskirts of the city centre, that has seen massive economic and social change over the course of the 20th century, with entire industries rising and declining, and very extensive new housing developments. These changes have had huge impacts on the local population.

The 1840s saw a massive influx into the area of Irish immigrants who settled in Vauxhall. They primarily lived and worked by the dock complex just to the north of the city centre, housed in poor quality high volume housing where disease and social deprivation was rife. The workforce was largely low paid and involved in semi-skilled work.

The 1930s saw the demolition of the slum areas of Vauxhall, and their replacement by council-owned walk up tenement blocks. While a huge improvement on the overcrowded and unhygienic court housing that had existed before, these blocks would soon create their own social problems. Subsequently the Luftwaffe blitz that devastated Liverpool in 1940 (Liverpool was the second most bombed city in the country - after London - as the Nazis recognised its importance as a port and an industrial base) left large parts of the north end of the city in complete ruins. One particularly heavy raid in December 1940 killed nearly one hundred people (including entire families) in a night of total destruction centred on Blackstock Street. The victims of this raid are remembered to this day by a commemorative plinth located on the junction of Vauxhall Road and Carruthers Street.

An Area in Decline

By the late 1970s, the dock complex that the Vauxhall area so heavily relied upon for work and employment was beginning to decline, as changes to the global economy meant that less and less material was being transported to or from the western side of the UK. Factory closures followed, resulting in high unemployment, with whole families thrown out of work by the loss of a single large-scale employer. In turn, the area started to de-populate, as people sought work elsewhere. The social consequences were to manifest themselves in poor housing conditions, a poor urban environment and a lack of local facilities.

That background of social and economic decline sparked the first attempt to reverse the trend, with the creation of the Portland Gardens Co-operative in 1978. This project aimed to commence community-based regeneration by redeveloping five sites around Portland Gardens to build 130 new homes, and a 36-unit refurbished sheltered housing complex. The Co-operative was a response to plans drawn up by Liverpool City Council to clear the old decayed tenements and to disperse the population living in them, and drew on the desire to keep the Vauxhall community together.

The 1980s – A Time for Change

However, the election of a new city council in 1983 saw the Portland Gardens project municipalised, again threatening to disperse the community of Vauxhall all over Merseyside. Another devastating blow to the area had seen the closure of the Tate and Lyle sugar refinery on Vauxhall Road in 1981, and the British American Tobacco plant on Commercial Road. Over 3,000 local jobs were lost as a result of these closures, and the economic future of the Vauxhall area seemed to have evaporated. The Tate and Lyle site was heavily contaminated and polluted, and its closure left a huge derelict site in the middle of the Vauxhall ward. The Eldonians were determined to respond to these enormous problems to create a better future for all, to work to keep the community together and to provide quality, affordable housing. The rest, as they say, is history… The Eldonians are organised through three arms, illustrated below. At the heart of our operation is the community.

The Eldonian Group

Established in 1987 as a company limited by guarantee, the Eldonian Group Ltd was created by the community in Vauxhall to provide a vehicle for the physical and economic regeneration of the area. It operates through a combination of business expertise and knowledge and community representation and input on the Board of Directors. Over the last fourteen years, the Group has successfully helped transform significant parts of the Vauxhall area, attracting major external investment, contributing to improvements in the physical environment, and contributing to the skill levels and employment opportunities of local people. The links above detail some of the existing businesses, and work undertaken by the Group over recent years, as well as future plans for the Vauxhall ward and also the wider Liverpool and Merseyside area.

Our Aims

The Group has three clear Objectives that inform and direct all its work. These are:

Enterprise and Job Creation: supporting and developing community businesses, generating jobs and providing a socially useful and viable service to the local and wider Liverpool community, and developing partnership initiatives to assist and promote enterprise.

Enhancing Access to Employment: developing Intermediate Labour Market initiatives to assist the long-term unemployed back into the labour market, providing a working wage and vocational training for a fixed period. Identifying potential vocational training programmes, providing access to employment.

Sustainability: identifying and developing additional income streams, to achieve self-sustained financial independence. Promoting the Group within the community, voluntary, public and private sectors both locally and city-wide.

Our Portfolio:

Guide Neighbourhood Consultancy Programme
Community Enterprise Support Programme
ELCON Gas Consultancy Services
Fahrenheit 60 Gas Contractor
Eldonian Neighbourhood Services Maintenance and Landscaping
Innovations Property Development Services

Contact Details

For more information regarding our Guide Neighbourhood
Programme or to arrange a visit please contact:

Mike Romano - Regeneration Manager
Eldonian Group, 7 Eldonian Way, Eldonian Village, Vauxhall,
Liverpool L3 6LG
Tel: 0151 207 5181
E-mail: mike@eldonians.co.uk