Developers wants to spend �350m regenerating the area

About 400 residents of Edge Lane will be forced to sell their homes after a public inquiry ruled in favour of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs).

The Liverpool Land Development Company plans to spend �350m on a scheme to regenerate the area.

The North West Development Agency said the plans were good news for the city.

Edge Lane links the M62 with the city centre but it is often congested in the Kensington area.

It breaks my heart that people are being pushed out because they don't fit the mould of the kind of residents the council wants to bring into this area Jane Kennedy

Developers plan to widen the road and build new homes and businesses, claiming the scheme will improve traffic flow and regenerate the area.

Jane Kennedy, the Labour MP for Wavertree, said: "I do agree that the road needs improving and that's why I supported the original bid for funding for improvements.

"But this to me just smacks of a rather unimaginative scheme that is all about gentrifying a particular stretch of road.

"It breaks my heart that people are being pushed out because they don't fit the mould of the kind of residents the council wants to bring into this area."

Inquiry ruling

A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said the demolition of the houses was "not a question of image".

"It is about creating high quality housing and a much wider range of housing which will include key worker accommodation and sheltered housing," he added.

The public inquiry was called following residents' objections when the compulsory purchase orders were issued in January 2005.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott upheld the findings of the public inquiry on Wednesday.