Corporate Watch talks to Natasha LeaJones, secretary of Home Environments at Redearth Triange (HEART), one of the groups taking action against the Elevate East Lancashire Housing 'Pathfinder' scheme in Darwen, Lancashire.
What's going to be the impact of the Pathfinder scheme in your local area?
Whilst old pre 1919 houses in various parts of Darwen are being renovated, our homes are being demolished, despite them being in very good condition. The real reason why they are being demolished is that they are situated on a prime patch of land in the town centre of Darwen. The council is taking advantage of the government's housing market renewal scheme to obtain a brown site to build an academy and units, which will belong to Capita, a private developer.
What have people you know in the area been saying about it? People are very upset and angry that they are losing their homes and are being sent into debt by the council, whilst other parts of Darwen are enjoying having their homes renovated from top to bottom, free of charge!
Was there any kind of 'consultation' conducted by the local government? There where some open days which were badly attended. The meetings were not advertised well. Demolition of our area was not mentioned. We were told we would get new windows and new doors. Sounds exciting, so we all let the surveyors into our homes.
How much of a say do you think you and other residents have had? None! It didn't matter how many people objected to the demolition of their homes, the council went ahead with the decision to demolish anyway. We were also never asked what we would like in place of the homes should we have agreed to demolish them. The school [City Academy] idea just came out at us in the paper even before we even got letters to say we were having our homes demolished. It doesn't matter what the people want, the council are building an academy regardless.
Why do you think that the housing scheme and the city academy is a priority for your council? Money. Lots of it!
And why are they important for the central government? Labour want to be seen to be carrying out the promises they made years and years ago when they were voted in, these promises were related to education and health. So now they are hoping that new buildings will make them look like they care about education and health. However, it isn't a new building which makes good teachers and it isn't a new building which makes good doctors. Since Labour's reign, Darwen has lost its local police night office, its local post offices and its local doctors. The new health centre has been moved from the town centre to the top of a hill, so it is impossible to get to when one is ill or old. It's the worse piece of planning Darwen has ever witnessed and now they are putting a school with 1500 pupils in the centre of the town and no one wants it!
What do you think about the state of the local housing? Does anything need to be done with it? Experts such as heritage companies from London and the North West, surveyors, press and other people have seen these houses and are completely shocked that they are being considered 'unfit'. This is because they are not unfit. Many of them have been renovated top to bottom by builders, and experts say the homes need on average £600 or less to bring them up to standard.
What do you think about the proposed City Academy school? Have you talked to local teachers and/or parents about it? What do they think? Teachers don't want to move. Many parents can not see why the site of their current school has to be closed down. It is already a good building, it doesn't need to be demolished. Some people don't object to an academy. They just object to it's position.
Who do you think will benefit from the housing pathfinder scheme? People who will benefit will be the lucky home owners who have their homes renovated. The value of their homes will go up by at least three times the current value.
What kind of action have you and the other people taken? We have formed an action group and we are gaining as many objection letters as possible.
How have you organised yourselves? We have meetings to discuss issues and we vote in ideas that we have.
What organisations and/or resourses have you found helpful? Save Britain's Heritage have been key to giving access to other people in the same boat as us. And the have helped us get press, radio coverage, and because they are in London they can hang out in the House of Commons and see what is going on. Also yourselves, the local library, the internet and a trip to the solicitors.
What are your plans for the future? We wish to renovate or area and keep our homes. We will do everything we can to keep our homes.
What kind of advice would you give to people facing similar problems in other parts of the country? People need to get in touch with me, or with Save Britain's Heritage, so that we can support each other in fighting away the threat of demolition.
Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers? If the council make a decision to demolish, that doesn't mean give up. It means carry on fighting. If we're to support each other, stick together, town for town and fight the government's insane policies, we can win.
Contact HEART
natashahomesafe@hotmail.com
01254 771658
What have people you know in the area been saying about it? People are very upset and angry that they are losing their homes and are being sent into debt by the council, whilst other parts of Darwen are enjoying having their homes renovated from top to bottom, free of charge!
Was there any kind of 'consultation' conducted by the local government? There where some open days which were badly attended. The meetings were not advertised well. Demolition of our area was not mentioned. We were told we would get new windows and new doors. Sounds exciting, so we all let the surveyors into our homes.
How much of a say do you think you and other residents have had? None! It didn't matter how many people objected to the demolition of their homes, the council went ahead with the decision to demolish anyway. We were also never asked what we would like in place of the homes should we have agreed to demolish them. The school [City Academy] idea just came out at us in the paper even before we even got letters to say we were having our homes demolished. It doesn't matter what the people want, the council are building an academy regardless.
Why do you think that the housing scheme and the city academy is a priority for your council? Money. Lots of it!
And why are they important for the central government? Labour want to be seen to be carrying out the promises they made years and years ago when they were voted in, these promises were related to education and health. So now they are hoping that new buildings will make them look like they care about education and health. However, it isn't a new building which makes good teachers and it isn't a new building which makes good doctors. Since Labour's reign, Darwen has lost its local police night office, its local post offices and its local doctors. The new health centre has been moved from the town centre to the top of a hill, so it is impossible to get to when one is ill or old. It's the worse piece of planning Darwen has ever witnessed and now they are putting a school with 1500 pupils in the centre of the town and no one wants it!
What do you think about the state of the local housing? Does anything need to be done with it? Experts such as heritage companies from London and the North West, surveyors, press and other people have seen these houses and are completely shocked that they are being considered 'unfit'. This is because they are not unfit. Many of them have been renovated top to bottom by builders, and experts say the homes need on average £600 or less to bring them up to standard.
What do you think about the proposed City Academy school? Have you talked to local teachers and/or parents about it? What do they think? Teachers don't want to move. Many parents can not see why the site of their current school has to be closed down. It is already a good building, it doesn't need to be demolished. Some people don't object to an academy. They just object to it's position.
Who do you think will benefit from the housing pathfinder scheme? People who will benefit will be the lucky home owners who have their homes renovated. The value of their homes will go up by at least three times the current value.
What kind of action have you and the other people taken? We have formed an action group and we are gaining as many objection letters as possible.
How have you organised yourselves? We have meetings to discuss issues and we vote in ideas that we have.
What organisations and/or resourses have you found helpful? Save Britain's Heritage have been key to giving access to other people in the same boat as us. And the have helped us get press, radio coverage, and because they are in London they can hang out in the House of Commons and see what is going on. Also yourselves, the local library, the internet and a trip to the solicitors.
What are your plans for the future? We wish to renovate or area and keep our homes. We will do everything we can to keep our homes.
What kind of advice would you give to people facing similar problems in other parts of the country? People need to get in touch with me, or with Save Britain's Heritage, so that we can support each other in fighting away the threat of demolition.
Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers? If the council make a decision to demolish, that doesn't mean give up. It means carry on fighting. If we're to support each other, stick together, town for town and fight the government's insane policies, we can win.
Contact HEART
natashahomesafe@hotmail.com
01254 771658