Community resistance to Prescott's Pathfinder demolitions.
The Liverpool Kensington New Deal for Communities area, which consists of over 4,000 houses where 13,000 people live, is facing massive demolitions in areas such as Edge Hill. Already hundreds of homeowners are preparing to defy the ompulsory purchase orders.[2] A group of concerned Registered Social Landlord tenants have put together a 52-minute film documentary consisting of interviews with RSL tenants, private landlord tenants and homeowners. Thousands of tenants and homeowners face demolition and just a handful of local government council officers; rich property developers and builders are behind it all. There are also concerns that extra housing is being added to the area to be demolished in order to make it worth the developers' while. Contact: www.tenantsactiongroup.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
Darwen, Lancashire 'Under Pathfinder the local authority proposes to demolish 151 houses next to the town centre on the grounds that they are structurally unsound. The vast majority of these terrace houses, dating from 1850, are occupied, and a trip around the area shows very few signs of the disrepair claimed by the local authority's condition surveys. Indeed an independent survey of ten of the buildings rated as structurally unsound, carried out by a structural engineer with an excellent knowledge of historic buildings, confirmed our belief that there was nothing at all wrong with the houses.'[3] 'There are cracks in gable walls, there are gutters coming away from the walls ...' (Executive Director of Regeneration, Graham Burgess) Since 'broken gutters' are not pressing reasons for demolition, many residents smell a rat. The demolitions will make way for a 'City Academy' PFI school, sponsored by, among others, Capita. The valuations of houses in the Redearth Triangle area were carried out by...Capita. Contact: Home Environments at Redearth Triangle (HEART) campaign, natashahomesafe@hotmail.com
Sheffield The Burngreave and Fir Vale 'Masterplan' will entail extensive demolition, rebuild and renovation. Shops, including an organic cafe, will be demolished and replaced by a supermarket. A local group calling themselves ‘Spital Hill Local Voice’ has collected 900 signatures, which were handed in to the council. Spital Hill Local Voice asks for 'a participative, co-operative, locally-led, planning process produced by the planners and local organizations and local people'.[4] Contact: http://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/SpitalHillLocalVoice.
Nelson September 2004 an alliance of local people and conservation groups, including English Heritage, won a reprieve for 146 Victorian terraces marked for demolition, following a public inquiry. The inquiry said: 'Renovation (rather than demolition) would be more likely to promote continuing community cohesion.'[5]
[1] Transcript of 'File on 4 – Urban Regeneration', 8th March 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/08_03_05_regeneration.pdf [2] 'Residents unite over Edge Lane expansion', Jan 26, 2005, Liverpool Echo, http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=15118523%26method=full%26siteid=50061-name_page.html [3] Casework: 'Darwen, Lancashire', www.savebritainsheritage.org/main.htm [4] 'The Burngreave Masterplan', 23rd Feb, 2005, www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305814.html#back2 [5] 'Razed expectations', March 10, 2004 The Guardian, http://society.guardian.co.uk/housingdemand/story/0,14488,1192682,00.html
The Pathfinder areas are: Merseyside, Manchester/Salford, Newcastle/Gateshead, Birmingham/Sandwell, East Lancashire, Oldham/Rochdale, South Yorkshire, Humberside and the East Riding and North Staffordshire.
Liverpool
'This isn't a housing renewal programme, it is a market renewal programme', Pauline Davies, managing director of Liverpool's New Heartlands project.[1]
The Liverpool Kensington New Deal for Communities area, which consists of over 4,000 houses where 13,000 people live, is facing massive demolitions in areas such as Edge Hill. Already hundreds of homeowners are preparing to defy the ompulsory purchase orders.[2] A group of concerned Registered Social Landlord tenants have put together a 52-minute film documentary consisting of interviews with RSL tenants, private landlord tenants and homeowners. Thousands of tenants and homeowners face demolition and just a handful of local government council officers; rich property developers and builders are behind it all. There are also concerns that extra housing is being added to the area to be demolished in order to make it worth the developers' while. Contact: www.tenantsactiongroup.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
Darwen, Lancashire 'Under Pathfinder the local authority proposes to demolish 151 houses next to the town centre on the grounds that they are structurally unsound. The vast majority of these terrace houses, dating from 1850, are occupied, and a trip around the area shows very few signs of the disrepair claimed by the local authority's condition surveys. Indeed an independent survey of ten of the buildings rated as structurally unsound, carried out by a structural engineer with an excellent knowledge of historic buildings, confirmed our belief that there was nothing at all wrong with the houses.'[3] 'There are cracks in gable walls, there are gutters coming away from the walls ...' (Executive Director of Regeneration, Graham Burgess) Since 'broken gutters' are not pressing reasons for demolition, many residents smell a rat. The demolitions will make way for a 'City Academy' PFI school, sponsored by, among others, Capita. The valuations of houses in the Redearth Triangle area were carried out by...Capita. Contact: Home Environments at Redearth Triangle (HEART) campaign, natashahomesafe@hotmail.com
Sheffield The Burngreave and Fir Vale 'Masterplan' will entail extensive demolition, rebuild and renovation. Shops, including an organic cafe, will be demolished and replaced by a supermarket. A local group calling themselves ‘Spital Hill Local Voice’ has collected 900 signatures, which were handed in to the council. Spital Hill Local Voice asks for 'a participative, co-operative, locally-led, planning process produced by the planners and local organizations and local people'.[4] Contact: http://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/SpitalHillLocalVoice.
Nelson September 2004 an alliance of local people and conservation groups, including English Heritage, won a reprieve for 146 Victorian terraces marked for demolition, following a public inquiry. The inquiry said: 'Renovation (rather than demolition) would be more likely to promote continuing community cohesion.'[5]
More information, including contacts for many more groups, at www.fightforourhomes.com/
References[1] Transcript of 'File on 4 – Urban Regeneration', 8th March 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/08_03_05_regeneration.pdf [2] 'Residents unite over Edge Lane expansion', Jan 26, 2005, Liverpool Echo, http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=15118523%26method=full%26siteid=50061-name_page.html [3] Casework: 'Darwen, Lancashire', www.savebritainsheritage.org/main.htm [4] 'The Burngreave Masterplan', 23rd Feb, 2005, www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305814.html#back2 [5] 'Razed expectations', March 10, 2004 The Guardian, http://society.guardian.co.uk/housingdemand/story/0,14488,1192682,00.html