shapps

Reporting local life since 1854 37pFriday, November 25, 2011

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WHAT AWA S T E£7.2m to flatten our eyesore homes... but housing ministerpledges no more cash for building on derelict land like thisBY ALEX [email protected]

MORE than £7 million is to be spentdemolishing the remaining homes ofresidents stranded in Stoke-on-Trent’shousing clearance areas, but there isno cash to build on the flattened land.

The £7.2 million will be used to movethe final 25 families living amongboarded-up homes and then knockdown the remaining properties in the21 affected streets in Hanley, Middle-port, Cobridge, Shelton, Fegg Hayesand Meir.

Tory housing minister GrantShapps announced the Government’s£3.6 million cash injection, Stoke-on-Trent City Council is matching theamount, during a visit to Hanley’s CityWaterside yesterday, but the Govern-

ment is not providing any money toredevelop the flattened streets.

It means the areas could be leftempty for years before privatedevelopers move in to build homes.

Eve Maley, who moved to City Water-side after being forced to leave herNorthwood home, said: “It’s appallinghow these people have been forced tolive over the last few years and I haveevery sympathy for them.

“I don’t know what they will do withthe empty land, it is vast. It could belike this for years.”

Housing renewal quango RenewNorth Staffordshire was wound up inAp r i l , leaving several major projectsunfinished.

Some families have been left stran-ded in so-called ghost streets, surroun-ded by boarded-up houses and with no

guidance on whether they will ever bem ove d .

Mr Shapps yesterday condemnedthe previous Government’s renewalprogramme for destroying Potteriesc o m m u n i t i e s.

He said: “The priority is now gettingpeople out of the abandoned streets.

“The renewal programme was a mis-take from beginning to end.

“Bulldozing communities was nevergoing to be a good idea. It was not justphysical homes, it was the communit-ies themselves that were destroyed.

“I wish I could wind back the clockand undo that, but I can’t.

“What we can do is try to get peopleout of these ghost streets.

“If your street is more than 50 percent empty, this money is designed tofind a solution and make sure you do

not have to live in an abandonedro a d . ”

The announcement will bring anend to the plight of 84-year-old greatgrandmother Beatrice Stanyer, whoseCrane Street home is surrounded byempty properties.

Mrs Stanyer, who lives with herdaughter, said: “We have been burgledand it is frightening. You hear peoplebanging about in the empty housesand it i s n’t comfortable anymore.”

Councillor Ruth Rosenau, c ab i n e tmember for regeneration, who joinedMr Shapps for a tour of some of theregeneration areas, said: “We h avebeen prudent in ensuring match fund-ing is in place to complete s ch e m e s. ”

What do you think of the cash?Email us at [email protected]

CASH PLEDGE: Housing Minister Grant Shapps, right, talks to residents Steve andKaren Poole on a visit to Hanley’s City Waterside development. Below, unused landnear Balfour Street, Hanley. Picture: Shaun Smith

‘IT WAS WRONG TO BULLDOZE WHOLE COMMUNITIES’: SEE PAGE 4

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