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Shock over news 170 homes to go
"HOMEOWNERS have reacted with shock to news that almost 170 properties could be knocked down.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council officials have written to 167 addresses in Middleport detailing plans to clear more homes in the neighbourhood.
The authority wants to bulldoze buildings in Trubshawe Street, Bridgewater Street, Shirley Street and a section of Newcastle Street, in addition to clearance zones already mapped out in the community. It says that, following a period of consultation and surveys into housing needs, many properties are in poor condition.
In a letter to residents this week, housing standards manager Georgina Patel said officers would recommend to council leaders that the preferred option for the Shirley Street area would be that it all comes down, rather than refurbishing part or all of the homes.
She added: "For this reason we are seeking approval to buy properties within the Shirley Street area boundary at current market value with the addition of statutory compensation payments."
Val Bargewell, a 58-year-old part-time Harplands Hospital worker, has owned her house in Newcastle Street for almost four years. She said she attended area forum meetings and had been under the impression houses in the street were to be refurbished.
The grandmother-of-one said: "This is my dream house. I have got a cellar, loft conversion and Minton flooring. I look at it as a piece of history.
"All that is wrong with mine is there's a damp cellar and a wobbly wall in the back yard."
Pharmacy technician Diane Bullock, from Trubshawe Street, has owned her house for 18 years and fears she will not get enough for her home to buy something similar elsewhere.
The 48-year-old said: "I think I knew it was coming, but it was a shock when it happened.
""They won't give us much for the property. The market value is low and it is a depressed market anyway."
But tenant Gillian Hoskins, who has lived in a Midland Heart house in Bridgewater Street for seven years, welcomed the announcement.
The 49-year-old said her kitchen wall was badly cracked and a ceiling had collapsed.
She added: "I can't wait for them to be cleared. I don't care where I go – anything has to be better than this."
The city council is working to provide English Heritage with information over why the houses need to go and why refurbishment is not viable.
Of 54 completed questionnaires returned from the 167 properties, 72 per cent of residents voted for clearance.
Homeowners will be able to have their say on the decision during a further round of consultation in August and September.
Brian Ward, cabinet member for regeneration, below, said: "Residents have been part of the process of deciding the best way forward for this area and we have kept them fully informed and involved.
"This is an area where housing conditions are very poor, where there are many private rented properties and high levels of antisocial behaviour."
Middleport is a key area in the multi-billion pound regeneration of North Staffordshire led by Renew, of which Stoke-on-Trent City Council is a part.
Projects currently under way include clearing more than 270 homes around Slater Street, Middleport, and regenerating the surrounding area."
Sentinel
Newspaper July 16, 2009
NOTE:
Although
these streets are officially classified as being in Longport, they are
just on the border of Longport and Middleport and often refered to as
Middleport. |
