As a destination point for convoys crossing the Atlantic during the second world war, Herculaneum dock was no stranger to bombardment.
The most southern point of the city’s historical network was regularly shaken by Nazi munitions falling nearby during The Blitz. Many hit the terraced streets of Dingle, fell into the river or hit dock infrastructure all along the coastline.
Herculaneum came through the other side and, for a while stood the test of time. It was eventually defeated by its ships, specifically the lack of them to service, and closed more than 100 years after it opened in 1972.
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The ‘dockers' steps’, a fearsome incline that leads up to the Dingle cliff side, provide the perfect vantage point to view the old dock and its storage units that still survive in the rock face. The view also takes in the hundreds of flats that sit at the centre of City Quay apartments built on the site of Herculaneum.
The redevelopment has provided a home for a dense block of potential voters that, just like the steely dock that came before, is proving a tough nut to crack for those who want to win it over, candidates in the upcoming local elections suggest - though they are undeterred with less than two weeks until polling day.
The offer of leaflets is at least far more welcome than what the area was subjected to from above to 80 years ago. But simmering away is a battle that will have a significant impact on the city’s political future.
Festival Gardens, as this area now comes under, is one of the new wards up for grabs on May 4 following the redrawing of the city’s electoral boundary map. It sweeps from Brunswick, taking with it parts of Dingle along the riverside before veering off up towards the affluent bookend of Fulwood Park in Aigburth.
The ward is a peculiar shape and home to arguably the most diverse makeup of residents in the city with Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Conservatives all confident there are votes to be won. It is an area where its past hangs heavy, but its future is perhaps what is most on the line in a few weeks' time - with its population expected to balloon if proposed housing developments come to fruition.
“There’s going to be a lot of houses and everybody has to eat”
To the right of City Quay, there’s small remnants of the overhead railway that once served Herculaneum before disappearing into the cliff edge. Little of this once Merseyside wonder remains and the screeching Merseyrail pulling into Brunswick behind is proof that times have moved on.
In the small business park beside it, you now have an artisan bakery slinging out as many flat whites as trips were taken under the banner of the White Star Line. Wild Loaf Bakery is a popular brand established in the city centre and is perhaps a peculiar addition in this somewhat arterial and unclaimed part of Liverpool.
“It was a bit of a risk,” says Emily Sandeman, 36, its co-owner, stepping out of the open plan kitchen, but she adds that there is a genuine feeling that a hidden array of businesses within the nearby warehouses are ready to make this area “more of a destination”. “It’s working for us”, she says, and the steady flow of custom doesn’t suggest otherwise.
Just beyond the tip of the new Festival Gardens ward is the former Harry Ramsden's restaurant, which has since been taken over by artisan supermarket Delifonseca. Those who want traditional dishes with accompanying sea air are still served by Portland Fish and Chips just up the road.
Ubz Hoque, 33, has been the owner for the last three months. “In this whole area there isn't much food, so if we market it right, then we could have a little gold mine,” he confidently tells the ECHO.
He says most new businesses are looking to get in on the action around the forthcoming Bramley Moore stadium in the north docks, but available land is scarce. People are therefore looking further south and he feels the impending Eurovision Song Contest will shine a light on the area which is a short walk from the arena complex.
“It lacks amenities but I feel like once people know this has potential, business will be popping up - like corner shops,” he says. Ubz feels as though he’s part of the “next wave of change” taking place in this corner of Festival Gardens, but on the opposite side things have moved at a more glacial pace.
Top Gear Transmissions sits on the most southern tip of the ward and is right on the cusp of Aigburth, rounded off by Fulwood Park and its collection of imposing houses. Mark Crawley, 53, the businesses’ general manager, says little has changed beyond the windows of the specialist garage - its own arrival being one of the main alterations as it found its home on an “odd bit of land” that sweeps into the Vale.
“It is a little bit marooned up here,” he adds, but he can take solace in being close to Aigburth Vale and the “soul” of Lark Lane. Further towards the river, however, is a mixture of quiet closes and dead ends like Moel Famau and Bempton Road, all with well kept front lawns sitting before admirable detached houses.
Despite their clear allure, Mark says these streets have “nothing” in the way of amenities. They are therefore reliant on their cars for even the simplest trip to the shops.
The Festival Gardens site, right between these two parts of the ward, is a rich artefact in itself. It is emblematic of the city when on its knees, of the days when Tory MP Michael Heseltine attempted to turn Liverpool’s fortunes around as its docks dried up and unemployment skyrocketed.
The International Garden Festival, launched in 1984, was successful in drawing upwards of three million people to the riverside and planted the seeds for the city emerging as a tourism destination in the decades later. It later became the adventure park Pleasure Island which had its heyday in the 1990s.
Today the area is part beauty spot and part wasteland - a mirage of once great potential and ambition that has hit a wall. Liverpool City Council is currently building 1,500 homes, many of which will incorporate sustainable initiatives, but the scheme has massively grown in cost with remediation of the former tip now over £60m with no homes yet to be built.
The authority had previously entered into an exclusivity agreement with development firm Ion, which had produced a draft residential masterplan for the site. However, this agreement expired in March 2021. The recommendation to procure a development partner is the result of an almost year-long review of the site.
Liverpool Council says that it is looking at Autumn for the developer opportunity to be advertised. The authority adds that, by June, it will be advertising the procurement of a multidisciplinary team to support the preparation of the development brief.
While the plans have hit delays, they still bring with them plenty of opportunities. “There’s going to be a lot of houses and everybody has to eat,” says Ubz, nodding towards his serving counter.
The showdown
Maria Coughlan, 68, is confident that she can win the seat for the Greens on May 4. With a 30-year career working in housing across the region, she believes she has the lived experience to represent the ward with such an enormous development in the pipelines.
Standing at the gates of the aforementioned site, she explains that her dad was a docker and her mum was a care worker, originally growing up around the Kirkdale area. Traditionally a Labour voter, she says that changed with a call from her son.
“He said ‘mum, are you sitting down, I've got something to tell you, I’m voting Green’”, she recalls. Maria says this was the moment for her own political awakening, noting how her years of trade unionism found a home in a party that fitted with her moral outlook on life and the environment.
“It's a habit,” adds Maria, “and you get into a habit of voting for a specific party because it is the way you were brought up.” She hopes that people in the wider area will be looking for an alternative to Labour, with the Greens showing they’re the party to draw together the wide range of voices that stretch from Dingle to Aigburth.
But as some may observe, Festival Gardens has the Greens in the driving seat. Group leader Tom Crone was representative of large chunks of the new ward while sitting councillor for St Michaels.
Areas of Dingle that were bolted on to Festival Gardens means it has the rough number of 4000 constituents to make up a single member ward, but it has also opened up the gate to a strong Labour heartland which could swing the vote. Equally, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives will be hoping to make strides in the south end of the borough towards Aigburth, leaving the Greens to try and consolidate power in the middle.
“Areas like Dingle might be traditionally Labour,” says Tom, speaking inside the Gardens and ward he is confident of winning, “but often those areas get taken for granted a bit by Labour," adding: “People realise there is a better alternative.”
“This can be a central point to bring the ward together so it's not them and us," says Maria, “not a Dingle and Festival Gardens. It's Festival Gardens, we're all one and the same and will work together," she says.
On the housing development itself, she adds: “I want to be a watchdog, an internal auditor. I am going to scrutinise everything.
“I'm going to ask the questions because I don't want this to go the way that it has gone before.
“[On the doorstep I hear] I was Labour but I'm not voting now. Basically that has been the issue here over and over again; parking fines, the overspend, alleged corruption, commissioners deciding what happens. All of that bit by bit has had an impact.”
Maria believes she is the candidate to fill this void of habitual disappointment, but Peter Norris, Labour’s candidate for Festival Gardens, doesn’t see it this way. “Politics is about delivering hope,” says the postman and trade unionist for the last 34 years.
The 57-year-old lives in Dingle, but has gradually made his way south from areas like Bootle, noting he has always been in close connection with dockside communities. He admits the task is a big one to win over a ward that is new and made up of large areas previously controlled by the Greens, but he is up for the challenge and confident Labour now has a foot in the door.
“I'll take a few bruises along the way no doubt, but that is the nature of the job,” he says. “As a union man I have taken a few bruises over the years.”
He has walked many streets in the city, but the collection up for grabs here can be like stepping into a new world at each corner. Peter believes that this is currently the most diverse ward in the city and therefore requires an ability to speak to people on all levels - as a professional postie demonstrates daily.
“You need to engage with all of these people. You need to show that they are not being ignored.
“Labour currently has a great offer, a structured and controlled one. One that is all about delivery and [new leader Liam Robinson] wants to hit the ground running.
“In Festival Gardens, the best you can be is a listener and an explainer. I don't promise what I can't deliver.
"This [development] is the future. As and when it happens, we want to be able to show people this is what Labour can do if we're involved."
But it is this promise and delivery is where the Liberal Democrats say there is weakness in Labour’s message, and in their control of the council for the last 12 years. They too will be hoping it is a tightly run contest on May 4.
Their candidate and former Liverpool Daily Post journalist Stephen Brauner, 61, explains how the original Garden Festival “was a very significant thing at the time", adding: “It brought tourists into Liverpool, when it was completely unimaginable to come to Liverpool for a city break.”
However he feels this momentum has been mismanaged by Labour and that the Liberal Democrats have the track record to deliver on the large project Festival Gardens is built around. He points to the group's success in transforming Kings Dock, Liverpool ONE and gaining UNESCO world heritage status.
He adds: “The Liberal Democrats approach things in a pragmatic way. What the council has achieved is a pie in the sky project.
“The city council have created an enormous financial black hole, £60 million pounds digging it up for the development. There was a scheme there that involved very little remediation.
"We have to make sure we get the development right. We have got to make sure it delivers community facilities; a small supermarket, a café. Let’s bring some pride back into the area.”
Conservative Party candidate is Brian Stewart. Speaking to the ECHO, a spokesperson for Liverpool Conservatives said Festival Gardens amounted to a “rushed job” to make new wards, but is “fielding a candidate anywhere we think we can win.”
They raised issues with stalled sites across the city and called for greater clarity on how development contracts are awarded, stating that links to any sitting councillors should not be allowed. The spokesperson added: “I want to see Liverpool Labour do things properly. I just don’t think that they will.”
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