SAVE halts Gateshead Pathfinder

[Nemesis]

Text from new Press Release:

SAVE ACTION HALTS PATHFINDER
DEMOLITIONS IN GATESHEAD


SAVE Britain’s Heritage has halted the demolition of 154 terraced houses in Gateshead after a successful last-ditch legal challenge. The houses, in the Saltwell and Bensham area, were due to be flattened under a Pathfinder scheme but have now been reprieved after the council admitted it had not made an environmental impact assessment screening opinion prior to approving demolition consent. SAVE hopes that Gateshead will now revise its plans and focus instead on refurbishing these properties.

So called ‘consultation’ in the area began in 2005 but failed to mention demolition as an option. Demolition began in 2006 and has since proceeded sporadically in the face of strong local opposition. To date, one block has been laid waste, and another partly destroyed. Shockingly, the council has no plans for redeveloping the site. In the absence of Compulsory Purchase Orders, private landlords have been bought up and tenants wheedled out, leaving remaining residents clinging on, isolated and vulnerable.

SAVE Secretary, Will Palin says ‘What is happening in Gateshead amounts to a national scandal. These are good houses in a pleasant part of Gateshead, served by a thriving high street and an award-winning public park. This not an area of housing market failure. It is quite simply the most inappropriate place for this kind of Pathfinder initiative.’

‘I hope that this will mark the end of this wasteful and nonsensical policy that has succeeded only in fragmenting a community and destroying part of Gateshead’s proud heritage. With the problems currently faced by the house-building sector and with the increasing awareness of the environmental cost of demolition this surely is the time for all enlightened planning authorities to put the days of destruction behind them and look towards creating genuine sustainable communities.’

SAVE’s President Marcus Binney says ‘Since SAVE published its pioneering report attacking Pathfinder demolitions in 2006, the number of houses proposed for demolition has been reduced from 400,000 to under 40,000. SAVE will continue to contest these needless, cruel demolitions of people’s homes at Public Inquiries and by legal challenges. This decision, we hope, is the beginning of the end for Pathfinder clearances.’

Nancy Bone, Secretary of the Saltwell and Bensham Residents Association, with 1300 members in the Saltwell and Bensham Pathfinder Area, welcomed the order quashing the order for demolition. She said ‘We objected to the proposals for demolition of the 154 homes because this is not a failing housing market and we set out positive measures for renewal. Last year we were ignored but since then the Council have adopted our proposals.’

She also said ‘We hope the Council now decides to continue restoring homes and stops demolition and calls upon the government to change the policy at a time when more and more people desperately need good solid homes such as these.’

Notes to editors:

The Saltwell and Bensham Residents Association’s blog can be read at http://www.sbresidents.org.uk
The Secretary, Nancy Bone, can be contacted on 07990-760920 (day) and 0191-477-0036 (night) or by email on nancybone2001 at yahoo . co . uk

SAVE Britain’s Heritage has been one of the strongest critics of the demolitions proposed as part of the government’s Housing Market Renewal (Pathfinder) Initiative. SAVE’s hard-hitting report on Pathfinder, published in 2006, highlighted the devastating effects of these clearances on both the communities and the architectural cohesion of towns and cities. SAVE has also drawn attention to wastefulness of demolition. SAVE’s position has been vindicated by a report by the Commons Committee of Public Accounts published in June 2008. The report warns of ‘…a risk that demolition sites, rather than newly built houses, will be the Programme’s legacy’ and concludes that ‘the needs of those who wish to remain in an area should not be overlooked in developing more mixed and sustainable communities.’

SAVE Britain’s Heritage has been campaigning for historic buildings since its formation in 1975 by a group of architects, journalists and planners. It is a strong, independent voice in conservation, free to respond rapidly to emergencies and to speak out loud for the historic built environment.

For further information contact:
William Palin (Secretary), SAVE Britain’s Heritage, 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ
Tel: 020 7253 3500. http://www.savebritainsheritage.org

http://www.sbresidents.org

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org

 

[shelli]

thats fantastic news - legal compliance - ha! - I'm glad it's complicated and cases are thrown out if the rules are broken.

this is the area where the council demolished a road of nice victorian terraces that were lived in by owners and tenants and redeveloped it into family homes that no-one can afford to buy - or buy-to-let - so the area is now almost totally unoccupied
:roll:

 

[Schoolmarm]

Brilliant, now lets hope that they don't follow the route of darwen where the same rule had also been breached. I think.

What will happen in Middlesbrough?

 

[plumbers mate]

.. and Gateshead has a loverly hole in the terraces. Should be converted to an open play/park area dedicated to the stupidity of "redevelopment".