The Victorian terraced houses（台阶式房屋） were originally bought for as much as £70,000 EACH – but are now being offered at the rock-bottom price to DIY enthusiasts¹.

 

Each buyer will have to prove they can bring the house up to scratch using "construction skills" before they can own the property.

 

Homes in the Granby Triangle area in Kensington, Liverpool were part of former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's plan to destroy thousands of homes across the country.

 

Under his regeneration Pathfinder scheme, around £2.2bn was blown on buying and demolishing² homes – but not enough new homes were built for the displaced occupants.

 

Residents in the Granby area fought to save the properties and now the city council has agreed to sell them to locals who will be able to revamp（修补，翻新） them.

 

As part of the initial pilot scheme, 20 houses will be offered for sale to residents for £1.

 

Liverpool's Deputy Mayor and Finance Chief Cllr Paul Brant said: "This allows people who may be excluded from mortgages but have construction skills to play a part in the regeneration of their communities.

 

"We've seen that the private sector³ model has not succeeded so far and, through this way of doing things, if there is any profit it will stay with local people."

 

Jonathan Brown, spokesman for the Merseyside Civic⁴ Society, said: "We fought against Prescott's scheme and it's great to have won all these years later.

 

"Local people have been let down over and over again for decades.

 

"I hope this now rolls out to other areas of the city in desperate need of regeneration."

点击收听单词发音