Pathfinders - still the destruction continues

[Nemesis]

Ltaest article:

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article2241756.ece

And another swathe of Liverpool to be demolished - unless a legal challenge to the CPO order can be mounted.

The problem is the people who don't want their homes demolished have to pay for all this legal stuff themselves, the Pathfinder bodies pay for it out of public cash.

Something a bit unfair there.

 

[Nemesis]

And it hasn't escaped the notice of Ian Martin of Building Design either:

CASHFINDER SCHEME
What will John Prescott be remembered for - apart from croquet, adultery and punching? The Pathfinder Schemes. A high-profile £1.2 billion regeneration initiative in England's poorest areas. Unfit terraced housing demolished, exemplary affordable housing developed. Local protesters and conservationists have consistently complained that some perfectly sound, refurbishable homes will be destroyed. Now, at last, the Sunday Times has found enthusiasm for the schemes. Among the international property speculation community. The 'buy-to-bulldoze homes scam' allows private investors to snap up condemned houses and collect compensation payouts when development goes ahead. 'The properties can offer substantial returns because they can often be bought at below the market price from residents who are anxious to leave their neighbourhoods, but may have to wait months or years for the compulsory purchase orders from the Pathfinder schemes...' One property investor raises extra income by refrurbing and renting out properties ahead of demolition - 'which will raise new questions about why they needed to be demolished in the first place...' Lib Dem peer Lord Greaves is a borough councillor in Lancashire; 'It's extraordinary, it's costing £80,000 of public money to buy a two-up two-down house so it can be demolished. We want money to invest in these areas, not to knock them down. We come across people in Jerusalem and Johannesburg who have been buying up property in Pendle...'
http://tinyurl.com/37kaq4
Hazel Blears, who failed in her bid to replace Prescott as Deputy PM but was made communities minister 'responsible for planning decisions, received a five-figure campaign donation from a multi-millionaire property developer...' Who is seeking planning permission for a 'controversial new hotel and conference centre in Cumbria which will be sent to Blears' Whitehall office for approval...'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/ politics/article2241728.ece


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