One of the Tory Ministers in charge of Boris Johnson's 'levelling up' plans has described his childhood memories of sitting by the smashed glass and broken windows of Liverpool's famous Sefton Park Palm House as he set out his vision for getting Northern cities 'going at full tilt'.
Levelling Up Minister Neil O'Brien told The Northern Agenda Live conference that strong local leadership was key to transforming the fortunes of cities like Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.
The Conservative MP, who was heavily involved in the long-awaited White Paper setting out the details of the Prime Minister's vision to end the North-South divide, said the UK was one of the most "geographically unbalanced" developed nations but also "one of the most centralised".
He said that while local leaders in London were given powers to take decisions locally the rest of the country missed out, in part because "in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher had to battle the loony left and Militants like [former Liverpool Council Deputy Leader] Derek Hatton."
Mr O'Brien told the conference in Newcastle, organised by the ECHO's publisher Reach, that powerful local leaders were needed to provide "a consistency and a long-term vision that can survive the churn of Westminster, different politicians and policies over time".
He said: "I think, for example, about the way Greater Manchester has steadily built its tram network. Ever since the early [John] Major era when I went there as a kid from Huddersfield, in the early 90s, they built the first tram line, and I thought 'this is starting to feel like a much bigger city'.
"And patiently over time, but not all in one big bang, they just gradually added and added and added, and they have an incredible metro network now that does really make it feel like a well connected city."
He said strong local leaders were also able to bring together different local groups and co-ordinate different types of policy in a way central government isn't able to.
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Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram is one of the elected leaders in the North handed powers over areas like housing and transport as part of recent devolution deals.
Mr O'Brien said: "So for all these reasons, the role of local leadership is just absolutely crucial.
"And when I think about the way the North has changed in my lifetime, I think it is important for government to champion the positive things that are happening here, to talk about the future, the amazing emerging industries here, and the physical changes that you can see here.
"So if I think about when my brother was living in Toxteth in Liverpool, we used to sit in Sefton Park, near where there was a famous Palm House, a huge greenhouse that at the time was full of smashed glass, and all the windows were gone.
"And my brother who is an architect, used to say 'imagine what the city was like when it was going at full tilt'. And I don't want to imagine what it was like, I want to see it going at full tilt, that's what I want to happen.
"And you can see that in the centre of a number of our big cities, you can see it in Greater Manchester, I used to go there as a kid, there was a lot of grey concrete, it felt a bit tired, frankly.
"And now it's amazing, just this incredible engine of growth, the same thing is happening in Leeds as well. And here [in Newcastle]."
The Grade II Listed Victorian Palm House at Sefton Park is described as a "firm favourite amongst locals and visitors alike" and "the jewel in the crown of the 235 acre park" with "one of the oldest horticultural collections in Britain".
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125 years of Sefton Park Palm House and its beautiful botanicals
It opened in Liverpool’s Sefton Park in 1896 and the three-tiered dome conservatory palm house was gifted to the city via Liverpool millionaire Henry Yates Thompson.
It was designed in the tradition of Joseph Paxton’s glass houses and at its time of opening was stocked with a rich collection of exotic plants. During World War Two a bomb fell near Sefton Park and shattered nearly all the glass.
It was later restored at a cost of £6,163 but the wrong type of ‘putty’ was used to secure the glass and over time it eroded, causing the glass pains to slip and fall out.
The Palm House fell into further disrepair and by the 1980s the Palm House had to be closed due to safety concerns. A campaign to restore it started in the 1990s, with £35,000 raised, and the building was fully restored and reopened at a cost of £3.5million with both Heritage Lottery and European funding.
