The community, police and council should come together to improve a "derelict" housing estate in Knowsley, concerned residents say after "sad" footage went viral on TikTok.
The footage of Primrose Court, in Huyton, racked up more than five million views within 24 hours of being uploaded to the social media platform, showing its boarded up windows.
Just last month, residents living in the area told the ECHO they feared for their safety due to gangs torching houses and setting fires in the street.
READ MORE: Reality of life on derelict TikTok housing estate Primrose Court
The issue of crime coupled with fly-tippers targeting the area has caused many people to move out of the area.
But now ECHO readers are saying it is "sad" to see these "beautiful homes" in such a state as they call for action to be taken.
Lee Anthony said: "I think this so sad. These beautiful homes. Why can’t the community get together, raise the money to fit the lighting and CCTV.
"The community can do it together to fight against the crime. The “wanna be gangs” will never be back again. Just a thought."
Steven John Glenn wrote: "We have mass homelessness and we have this. So sad."
Gabriella Lucy Holcroft said: "The sad thing is if you go to a certain point on the street it shows the homes when they were first built and had families in."
Andrew Reader added: "I used to live round there. It’s sad because there are genuinely nice people living round there and they feel unsafe due to idiots."
Mark South suggested the council "take over" the area and increase the level of policing.
The problems with Primrose Court appear to have started when the development was first built by two private companies who went bust before work on site was completed.
This means key elements such as street lighting and ‘proper kerbs’ have not been installed on the road.
And because the road is unadopted, the duty to maintain it belongs to the owners of the properties.
In a previous interview with the ECHO, one woman who did not want to be named said she lived in a house on Primrose Court for seven years until she couldn't take anymore.
ECHO reader Lisa Florence said: "I know someone that lives there and I’ve been there plenty of times, I’ve never been approached by gangs I don’t fear for my life walking in there. And if anything the houses are massive inside.
"It’s just a shame the council won’t take over the abandon properties and do them up and help the people that are really in need of a home.
"A home is what you make it just remember that. It doesn’t matter what outside looks like it’s the inside that counts."
Speaking to the ECHO earlier this month, the owner of A1 Properties, Colin Bell, said of the 400 houses he manages across the region the 10 properties he owns on Primrose Court "create 90% of our problems."
On average, Colin said he spends around one and a half to two days a week on the estate attending to issues and clearing up rubbish that has been left there.
Of the 24 properties on Primrose Court, Colin said nine of the houses, which are owned by different landlords, are currently empty - and four of them are believed to have been derelict for over 14 years.
Merseyside Police said a number of search warrants have taken place at addresses in the area in recent months, during which a number of controlled drugs, cash and stolen property have been recovered.
When the ECHO published the article about what life is really like on the derelict street, many readers were quick to have their say.
One user said: "I've worked on properties here in the past, I was shocked to see that these houses are of a good quality build and the level of deprivation is shocking, we were approached by a number of youths who clearly where up to no good whatsoever.
"This street has the potential to be a lovely community, however it's used as a doss. The problem is policing, they haven't got the resources to keep tabs on it, this place is a hub for criminal and anti-social behaviour, I feel for the tenants who still live here."
Another added: "I get what the council are saying about it being privately owned but this is still in their borough. They need to come up with a solution.
"These kind of places are like an infection and will spread outward if left untreated. Before they know it, the nearby streets that they do manage will get infected and the problem becomes much worse for them to deal with."
A Knowsley Council spokesperson previously said: “Knowsley Council did not build the properties at Primrose Court and has never owned them. It is therefore not the case that we are able to 'repossess' them and we have never agreed to do so.
“In fact, many of the issues at Primrose Court arise because the development was built by two separate privately owned companies – both of which went into liquidation without completing the work on site and without meeting the planning conditions for the developments.
"This meant that the usual processes for adopting the highway, installing street lighting etc could not be followed and the same problem prevents the installation of other measures such as CCTV.
"The current property owners expect the Council to use a considerable amount of public money to complete a privately owned development.
“The Council has been in regular dialogue with the homeowners and landlords of properties in Primrose Court since the initial issues arose in the area."
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