A
Anonymous
Guest
Evelyn, it appears that you have published "word for word" flawed information put about in the press & media by the leader of the very small minority group opposed to demolition in the Welsh Streets, Liverpool. My neighbour & I were interviewed for nearly an hour, last year, by Michael Nicholson, for the Trevor McDonald programme and appeared on the original programme, repeated recently. However rather than a balanced view of the issue, our interviews were so severely edited & taken so much out of context, that it did not make clear, that WE SUPPORT THE DEMOLITION PROPOSALS.
As for the supposed "refurbishment" of 29 Powis Street, that was a total farce. I have lived in Powis Street all my life (67 years), my family home being two doors from that house and watched the work being done. It was merely a "TV Makeover" and a very bad one at that. There were no gas or water connections to the property, so nothing was plumbed in, apart from other faults. The house was boarded up after the TV crew left and it is STILL BOARDED UP , though they failed to show that on the latest broadcast.
Contrary to what was reported it was not sold six weeks later but in October last and NO ONE HAS EVER MOVED IN to date, a year later. Probably bought by a speculator, hoping to make a quick profit. on resale.
For your further information, you have also been misled about the membership of the Steering group. Many of us are Home Owners, who have lived in the Welsh Streets for over 50 years and are known & respected by the Community.
We are all volunteers who have worked, together with the wider community, for the past 5 years to return this area to the once vibrant neighbourhood it used to be. We do not work for the Pathfinder or RSL's but for the benefit of the residents and future generations.
The amended proposal was to demolish only 9 of the 11 Welsh Streets, until residents of the 2 remaining streets in the demolition area,( not scheduled for demolition, but refurbishment) made it clear to the Council that they wished their streets to be demolished. Subsequently over 200 residents attended a demonstration at the Town Hall to impress on the Council their SUPPORT FOR DEMOLITION. This led to the Council agreeing to declare all 11 streets for demolition, there are 3 remaining Welsh Streets opposite, which will be refurbished,as they are in better condition.
Proof of residents committment to the process being that, of the 107 properties being built on the Clevedon site, adjacent to the demolition zone, 98 have been reserved by Welsh Street residents , whose properties are due for demolition. All neighbours having known each other many years. There is a mix of tenure, rent, shared ownership & outright sale, which will also be the tenure mix in the new housing phases that will be built on the sites of houses due for demolition & residents in the following phases will be moved into the new housing, virtually in the same area of street they now live. So the Community will NOT be split up.
The reason for demolition of these houses is not solely due to the damp & unhealthy state of the properties but also the failing structures & subsidence, due to collapsing Victorian drainage system. The bottom half of two streets' houses collapsed in the 60's and had to be cleared and many other properties have been empty & derelict for years.They are holding each other up, so that if one or two were demolished they would probably all collapse like a pack of cards.
Home Owners account for 50% of the 450 properties and are being offered full Market Value, plus 10%, plus solicitors & surveyors fees & moving costs and this is their opportunity to buy into better housing, as people have been unable to sell in the past, if they wished to move elswhere, as some have done already, because no one wanted to buy here, despite what you may have been told.
It was not made clear in the programme that the 78 year old lady is NOT a Home Owner, but a tenant, so like some of her neighbours in Madryn Street already have been, she will be offered new rented property within the same neighbourhood and help to move.
We are tired of the Heritage lobbyists patronising endeavours to influence Government Policy for their own ends. we live in these houses and it is our choice to aspire to better housing & surroundings. There are plenty of Heritage buildings being preserved in the City Centre and main routes into the City. We have for too long been the forgotten area, so please leave us to get on with improving our neighbourhood.
Mary Huxham - Secretary WDC Tenants & Residents Association
As for the supposed "refurbishment" of 29 Powis Street, that was a total farce. I have lived in Powis Street all my life (67 years), my family home being two doors from that house and watched the work being done. It was merely a "TV Makeover" and a very bad one at that. There were no gas or water connections to the property, so nothing was plumbed in, apart from other faults. The house was boarded up after the TV crew left and it is STILL BOARDED UP , though they failed to show that on the latest broadcast.
Contrary to what was reported it was not sold six weeks later but in October last and NO ONE HAS EVER MOVED IN to date, a year later. Probably bought by a speculator, hoping to make a quick profit. on resale.
For your further information, you have also been misled about the membership of the Steering group. Many of us are Home Owners, who have lived in the Welsh Streets for over 50 years and are known & respected by the Community.
We are all volunteers who have worked, together with the wider community, for the past 5 years to return this area to the once vibrant neighbourhood it used to be. We do not work for the Pathfinder or RSL's but for the benefit of the residents and future generations.
The amended proposal was to demolish only 9 of the 11 Welsh Streets, until residents of the 2 remaining streets in the demolition area,( not scheduled for demolition, but refurbishment) made it clear to the Council that they wished their streets to be demolished. Subsequently over 200 residents attended a demonstration at the Town Hall to impress on the Council their SUPPORT FOR DEMOLITION. This led to the Council agreeing to declare all 11 streets for demolition, there are 3 remaining Welsh Streets opposite, which will be refurbished,as they are in better condition.
Proof of residents committment to the process being that, of the 107 properties being built on the Clevedon site, adjacent to the demolition zone, 98 have been reserved by Welsh Street residents , whose properties are due for demolition. All neighbours having known each other many years. There is a mix of tenure, rent, shared ownership & outright sale, which will also be the tenure mix in the new housing phases that will be built on the sites of houses due for demolition & residents in the following phases will be moved into the new housing, virtually in the same area of street they now live. So the Community will NOT be split up.
The reason for demolition of these houses is not solely due to the damp & unhealthy state of the properties but also the failing structures & subsidence, due to collapsing Victorian drainage system. The bottom half of two streets' houses collapsed in the 60's and had to be cleared and many other properties have been empty & derelict for years.They are holding each other up, so that if one or two were demolished they would probably all collapse like a pack of cards.
Home Owners account for 50% of the 450 properties and are being offered full Market Value, plus 10%, plus solicitors & surveyors fees & moving costs and this is their opportunity to buy into better housing, as people have been unable to sell in the past, if they wished to move elswhere, as some have done already, because no one wanted to buy here, despite what you may have been told.
It was not made clear in the programme that the 78 year old lady is NOT a Home Owner, but a tenant, so like some of her neighbours in Madryn Street already have been, she will be offered new rented property within the same neighbourhood and help to move.
We are tired of the Heritage lobbyists patronising endeavours to influence Government Policy for their own ends. we live in these houses and it is our choice to aspire to better housing & surroundings. There are plenty of Heritage buildings being preserved in the City Centre and main routes into the City. We have for too long been the forgotten area, so please leave us to get on with improving our neighbourhood.
Mary Huxham - Secretary WDC Tenants & Residents Association
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