1980's: Time for a Change
However, the election of a new city council in 1983 saw the Portland Gardens project municipalised, again threatening to disperse the community of Vauxhall to estates all over Merseyside. Another devastating blow to the area had seen the closure of the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery on Vauxhall Road in 1981, and the British American Tobacco plant on Commercial Road. Over 3,000 local jobs were lost as a result of these closures, and the economic future of the Vauxhall area seemed to have evaporated overnight. The Tate & Lyle site was also heavily contaminated and polluted, and its closure left a huge derelict area in the middle of the Vauxhall ward.
The Eldonians were determined to respond to these enormous problems to create a better future for all, to work to keep the community together and to provide quality, affordable housing to allow families and friends to stay in close proximity. The combination of the community’s need for new affordable housing, and the huge derelict site left vacant by Tate & Lyle started the Eldonians on the road to totally re-developing the area. The rest, as they say is history.
