Chief Secretary to Treasury, Danny Alexander, met Liverpool leaders to discuss plans to "do more with less" as spending cuts loom over the city.
The leaders were brought together by Neighbourhood investor, the Plus Dane Group, following Mr Alexander's visit to an innovative project in Toxteth on Thursday that is working to create jobs for people who have been unemployed for the long-term.
The city chiefs are involved in the new North Liverpool Action Team, which was recently announced by Liverpool City Council to show that the city is willing and able to develop its own distinctive version of Big Society.
The North Liverpool Action Team is taking learning from neighbourhood working across the City and beyond and in particular from work in Toxteth.
The leaders told Mr Alexander that poorly targeted or timed cuts would threaten partnership working if sufficient incentives to work together and share resources were not included.
The action team will be led by a small team of elected councillors and city officers, bringing together a wide of organisations such as Plus Dane Group, Liverpool Primary Care Trust, Merseyside Police, and Liverpool Hope University.
The aim is to bring together partners to merge resources to deal with the deep-rooted social problems across Anfield, Kirkdale and County.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: “This is a fantastic example of how bringing partners together can make a real difference at neighbourhood level.
"We are facing tough economic challenges that will reduce overall funding to the public sector but the government still has an important role in supporting and encouraging these initiatives.”
Ken Perry, Chief Executive of Plus Dane Group, said: “Today’s aim was to demonstrate the range of work underway in Toxteth and other parts of Liverpool to tackle key issues, such as social exclusion and unemployment, and drive social and physical regeneration.
“Plus Dane is committed to investing in neighbourhoods to improve quality of life, choice and opportunity for local people.
“We have worked for many years to bring a wide range of partners together to create a sense of common purpose for neighbourhoods to help ensure that resources and investment are targeted where they are needed the most.
“Today was an important opportunity to highlight how this approach is making a difference and importantly, how it can play a role in helping to deliver the Government’s Big Society agenda in Liverpool.”
Mr Alexander was given a tour of Liverpool 8 to view the work being done to socially and physically regenerate the area.
He then visited Plus Dane’s IN Environmental Services (INES) business, a social enterprise originally set up and supported by a Neighbourhood Renewal Fund grant and support from Liverpool City Council to create employment opportunities and tackle the area’s high levels of unemployment and barriers to work.
The INES team specialises in cleaning up neighbourhoods and turning eyesores into places of community pride. It undertakes a wide range of environmental services, from cleaning up school grounds to providing free hanging baskets to brighten up neighbourhoods and currently ‘cleans and greens’ the equivalent of 77 football pitches every two weeks.
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