Residents set to be made homeless as flats ruled unsafe

HUNDREDS of people on a Kirkby housing estate are being made homeless after two tower blocks were declared 'unsafe' by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS).

- By ELLIOT JESSETT

The ECHO has seen a Knowsley Council letter sent to 160 households at Willow Rise and Beech Rise confirming they will have to permanently vacate their homes in a matter of weeks. The local authority explained MFRS has been forced to serve a prohibition notice due to the management company's failure to complete essential repairs.

The tower blocks are located on Roughwood Drive in Kirkby and have hundreds of residents both rented tenants and leaseholders.

The buildings are owned by TR Marketing Ltd and the headlessor of both Willow Rise and Beech Rise is Rockwell (FC100) Limited.

The leaseholders elect a board who then contract a management company to take care of health and safety issues, general maintenance and service charges. Dempster Management Services Limited (DMS) took on this contract after reaching an agreement with the board, Parklands Management Company Ltd, in 2023.

At the start of May, Dempster informed all residents and leaseholders it had decided to terminate its contract with Beech Rise and Willow Rise, effective immediately. It means residents have been living without a management company.

One of these flats belongs to Arunee Leerasiri who has lived in Willow Rise for the last five years, but has found the last 12 months particularly difficult: "It's been stressful, very stressful. We've been living with an increasing sense of fear with no solutions or answers to our questions.

"I am beyond devastated. I work from home, I am now about to be homeless. I love my home. I spent time and money to make it nice, and now it's being stripped away from me."