A LIVERPOOL grandmother claimed victory today in a High Court test case battle against a government scheme to demolish thousands of homes. Elizabeth Pascoe, 59, faced being forced to move from her Liverpool home by a compulsory purchase order (CPO) made under the Pathfinder urban regeneration project. Ms Pascoe challenged the CPO granted to English Partnerships to acquire and demolish 500 homes at Edge Lane West for the new road scheme into the city centre and new housing. It was the first in a series of CPOs planned by the Urban Regeneration Agency for deprived inner city areas. But today her solicitor, Phil Shiner, said a judge had overturned the CPO and declared that English Partnerships, the acquiring authority, had acted outside its powers. Mr Justice Forbes, sitting at the High Court in London, also ruled that Mrs Pascoe’s right to private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated by the order. Mr Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, said: "This was a test case, which means that this victory will benefit people across the country who are affected by the Pathfinder scheme." The Edge Lane scheme was described as "social cleansing" by Jane Kennedy, the local Labour MP, at the public inquiry that approved the plans. Today Mr Shiner commented: "The judge has said that the Government cannot bend its own rules to deprive people of homes that are pefectly fine. "The Government must now rethink its approach to urban regeneration and come up with an approach which is just." Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced plans to demolish thousands of homes across the Midlands and the North under the Pathfinder initiative. There are nine Pathfinder schemes affecting up to 30 towns and cities across the country, covering 700,000 homes and involving 2.5 million people. Ms Pascoe said: "This is a pyrrhic victory for me. It is bittersweet because much of my community has already been destroyed as a result of this initiative. "Many of my neighbours who had lived here happily for decades succumbed only recently to various pressures and left." She said there would be "much heartache" among those who had given in but added today’s ruling would bring hope for many others affected by the Pathfinder initiative nationwide. She said: "We can truly regenerate what remains and attract the dispossessed". | 
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