An information centre that started out in a former pub has gone on to provide essential access to justice for half a century.
The Vauxhall Law Centre was originally established to provide housing advice for people in the Scotland Road community in a bid to turn the tide on the poor living conditions and deprivation in the densely populated area. The information centre expanded into a law centre and has continued to challenge poverty and injustice in the decades after.
Speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary, Annie Goodman, one of the founding members of the information centre said it was started “because of the amount of deprivation in the area, and there was nowhere for people to go and complain," adding: “There was nothing - that’s why it was set up." Today the centre offers free advice or representation at appeal, as well as its continued support with housing issues.
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Half a century on from its formation, Elly Smith, 27, a development officer working at the centre, said demand for support remains “sky high”. The challenges of austerity and the more recent cost of living crisis have put enormous pressures on what remains a deprived community.
Elly told the ECHO: “The real impact is on clients who are having to live through unimaginable injustices and not being able to put food on the table . That's what clients are facing.
"It's the worry that you hear speaking to people on the phone. Worrying about how they are going to cover costs.
“Law centres have always been like a fifth emergency service because we can intervene at crisis point. And because we have been here for 50 years we are trusted by the local community and people know us, they know the advisors, they know David has been here 30 years and people are willing to come to us for advice.”
The David referred to is David Taylor, 68, a welfare advisor at the Vauxhall Law Centre. Arriving as a solicitor at the centre in the 1980s, he said the times of greatest pressure have been around the recession in the 1990s and the 2008 financial crisis.
But the current social and economic outlook has provided the most significant challenge. He told the ECHO: “Pressure on people in terms of cost of living pressures at the moment are greater than at any time in the last 30 years.”
Looking back over his three decades with the centre, he said the work "has never gotten easier", but the commitment to supporting the wider community remains as strong. He added: “Our role is offsetting the power that these people are up against.”
West Derby Labour MP Ian Byrne, who has financially supported the law centre to ensure people continue to have access to justice, takes a similar view of its importance. He told the ECHO that he could see the centre was under “extreme stress” due to enormous cuts in legal aid and that its offer needed to be sustained - something he did in his final years as a councillor by donating his salary for his role to the centre while also being an MP.
He told the ECHO: "Now justice comes down to whether you have the ability to pay for it. Everyone should have access to justice.
“It is about rebalancing the scales of justice. That is what the Hillsborough Law Now campaign is about.
“It is not a just system any more. It is an injustice system.”
Commenting on the importance of the centre’s work for the last 50 years and its presence in the years to come, he commended the ethos that has driven it forward. He said: "It is the hardwiring of humanity into everything that they do.. Everybody is treated equally.
"Everybody is looked at as somebody that can be helped. That is the most compelling lesson.
“We should have a Vauxhall Law Centre in every constituency. That is the dream.”
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