00:00The situation at a long derelict grade 2 listed building in North Liverpool has reached a critical point.
00:06Amid reports it's blighted with vermin for the past two decades, Eldon Grove in Vauxhall has cast a long shadow
00:12towards the city centre.
00:1368-year-old John Doyle, a Lib Dem campaigner, has lived opposite the site for the past 24 years.
00:20The building's been in my life all the time I've lived here. It's part of the fabric of the area.
00:26It was a thriving building which housed just human beings. It was a residential building. People used to play football
00:35inside.
00:36First opened by the Countess of Derby, the tenements which were once described as the city's finest are currently believed
00:41to be the last remaining original style of its kind in the area.
00:45The imposing building, which sits among the neat streets of Edwardian Homes on the quiet Eldon Grove Estate, has stood
00:52since 1912, but it fell into disrepair in the early 2000s.
00:57Work to restore the buildings halted in 2020 and the site has fallen into further disrepair.
01:02Planning permission to transform it into a state-of-the-art apartment complex was approved by the City Council in
01:082016.
01:10Leaseholders JGLT Developments Limited started work until it stopped around 2020 and hasn't restarted.
01:17It's probably the most beautiful tenement building in the city.
01:21If you look at the chimneys that you can see, which are so high up and all made out of
01:26brick,
01:27and then you can see the Tudor with the black and white frontages.
01:31It's just an absolutely beautiful building, all fenced off.
01:36All the fences are under the preservation order as well, so they can't be knocked down.
01:41But if you looked at that and imagined it, or go on the website of Eldon Grove, you'll see what
01:47it was like in its prime.
01:48The developments were being done alongside property development firm Bond Street Limited.
01:52Bond Street previously said in April 2025 they planned to continue redevelopment, but claimed the council was limiting their ability.
01:59The building was then again blighted with trespassers vandalising the property and fly-tipping on the neighbouring land,
02:05something which current leaseholders Bond Street have said they've spent a fortune cleaning up.
02:10You know, people are always going on about the need for a social house,
02:13and well, why doesn't somebody develop that and put people in on affordable rents and build the community back up
02:20again?
02:20A Liverpool Council spokesperson said Eldon Grove is a privately owned Grade 2 listed building
02:25with extant planning permission for redevelopment.
02:28While the council does not own or control the site, we engage with the owner through the planning and regeneration
02:33process
02:34and take action where appropriate on safety, cleanliness and antisocial behaviour.
02:39We remain clear that the long-term ambition is to see this historically significant building restored
02:45and brought back into productive use for the benefit of the Vauxhall community.
02:50It's been like this for 25, 30 years, so people are tending just to accept the way it looks and
02:56the state it's in.
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