GRANT SHAPPS "ACCIDENTALLY" SIGNED OFF DEMOLITION OF RINGO STARR´S HOUSE

Grant Shapps, the former Housing Minister, accidentally signed off a regeneration project without realising it would demolish the house in which Ringo Starr was born, a court heard today.

Grant Shapps

Grant Shapps, the former Housing Minister, accidentally signed off a regeneration project without realising it would demolish the house in which Ringo Starr was born, a court heard today.

Nine Madryn Street, in Dingle, was set to be knocked down by Liverpool City Council as part of regeneration plans for the Welsh Streets area of the city.

But a court heard the Conservative Party Chairman had not been informed that house would be bulldozed alongside 5,000 terraced homes as part of a £35.5 million regeneration project.

Today Government lawyers conceded at the High Court that the nationwide regeneration project was unlawful as it contradicted government policy, but argued that they could not backpedal because too much of the public money had already been spent.

Now a High Court judge has ordered a full judicial review of the decision.

Announcing the grants in November last year, Mr Shapps boasted that they heralded a major policy shift away from Labour's “Pathfinder” policy which, he claimed, was obsessed with the demolition of the 'classic English terraced house.'

However it later emerged the grants would be used to fund 5,000 additional demolitions including the childhood home of Beatle's drummer Starr.

In June Mr Shapps made arrangements to prevent the destruction of Ringo Starr's house which he described as a 'beacon of Beatlemania.'

Although 16 homes on the street were spared another 400 in the area were earmarked for demolition and residents argued the older homes would look ridiculous amid the regeneration.

Richard Harwood, barrister for SAVE Britain’s Heritage, argued that the regeneration project went against government policy to protect the historic terraces and amounted to a continuation of Pathfinder by stealth.

He said the money had been given away by the Department for Communities and Local Government before Mr Shapps realised that proposals put forward by the 13 local authorities involved would result in demolition of over 5,000 homes.

Government barrister, James Eadie QC, said it would be "legally extremely problematic, if possible at all" to unravel the payments which had not been "ring-fenced". Much of the the money had already been spent or irrevocably committed.

However, insisting that the unlawful decision was "potentially catastrophic" and should be quashed, Mr Harwood said the wrongly allocated grants should either be recouped from the councils or a condition imposed that they be spent on refurbishing properties.

Ordering an urgent hearing of SAVE's judicial review challenge, Mrs Justice Lang said: "The claimant has established an arguable case. Whilst recognising the difficulty of elements of the case, a full judicial review is in the public interest".

Marcus Binney, SAVE's President, said after the judge's ruling: "We were appalled that funds assigned by the government for refurbishment have been used for continuing demolition.

"The judgement of Mrs Justice Lang potentially opens the door towards one of the most important and productive regeneration schemes in Britain, with renovation of thousands of empty homes and local landmark buildings".

Starr's childhood home remains boarded up and covered in graffiti left by Beatles fans from across the world.