Lord Heseltine to be awarded Freedom of Liverpool

LORD Heseltine is to receive the Freedom of the City of Liverpool next week.

He will receive the award during a reception in his honour at Liverpool Town Hall next Tuesday March, 13 – the day at which he will also speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.

The award is being granted in recognition of his efforts in helping to stimulate regeneration in the city, which stemmed from his appointment as “Minister for Merseyside” in the wake of the 1981 Toxteth riots.

He was instrumental in revitalising the waterfront by setting up the Merseyside Development Corporation and oversaw the restoration of the Albert Dock. He also started the programme of Garden Festivals – the first of which was in Liverpool in 1984. He also initiated the Mersey Basin campaign which helped to clean up what was one of the most polluted rivers in the country.

More recently, he co-authored a report with former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy which set out the a blueprint for growth and investment in the Liverpool city-region.

Council leader Cllr Joe Anderson said: “Lord Heseltine has been a great friend of Liverpool for many years. In the 1980s he came, he saw and he championed Liverpool’s cause.

“The renaissance of the city started with the transformation of the Albert Dock and the International Garden Festival which he was largely responsible for bringing about as Minister for Merseyside. He has played an important and role in the regeneration of Liverpool over the past three decades.

Opposition leader Cllr Paula Keaveney, said: “It is right that we confer the city’s highest honour on those people who have played a significant role in its development and Lord Heseltine is certainly one of those figures.

“Not only did he implement great improvements in his time as Minister for Merseyside but he has remained a powerful friend and advocate for the city ever since.”