The cameras, crew and catering vans were out in force this morning on Condor Place, a row of houses that were supposed to be demolished two years ago as part of yet another redevelopment of the Whit Lane estate a process that began 15 years ago with the £53million Charlestown and Lower Kersal New Deal for Communities (NDC).
The first redevelopment by Miller Homes collapsed after people had been kicked out of their homes and whole streets demolished. Then a second plan for the area was formed, with Countryside Properties supposedly on board. That never happened. And now Salford's `forgotten estate' is left with another dodgy carrot dangling, this time with proposals by Keepmoat for 400 houses although no-one on the estate the Salford Star spoke to this morning had seen any plans.
The anger against Salford Council grows by the day... "They've just left us" said one resident "No-one tells us anything, it's disgusting."
And into this £53million dark comedy of Salford Council errors comes Peter Kay, believed to be filming a new BBC seventies-set drama, Cradle to Grave, an adaptation of Danny Baker's autobiography, Going to Sea in a Sieve. This morning, the end house on Condor Place was un-tinned with huge lights mounted on the outside. The whole crew was cagey about what was being filmed but word had already swept around the estate. And the state of that estate is no joke.
Dr Andrew Wallace, now a senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln, first wrote a brilliant book centred on the total failure of the NDC in Whit Lane, observing how residents of Charlestown and Lower Kersal faced a "legacy of injustice ...through inaction and failure", leaving a "decimated landscape" and a "casual disregard for residents and the limbo they have been forced to endure".
Last year Dr Wallace updated his research with an academic paper, Salford Loves It Big and Shiny, underlining and updating the point..."The abandonment and abjection of this estate due to project failures, not to mention ongoing cuts in welfare support as well as the Bedroom Tax, has been worsened by the closure of local shops, a local community centre and all local pubs" he wrote "One shop now remains to serve an entire community. The riverside 'potential' of IR [Irwell Riverside] remains resolutely 'unfulfilled'... meanwhile local people (never of course part of that 'potential') endure a seriously devitalised and uncertain future.
"The community here might yet be further displaced, but for now they are simply placed; placed in the cross hairs and marked 'TBA'" he added "In the course of the absurd, dark logic of competitive urban regeneration funding, local authorities and their regeneration partners ensnare citizens and their homes in precarious renewal visions.
"Battling the slick eviction industry is one thing, but battling a phantom, unpredictable menace bogged down in failure and incompetence offers even greater malevolence for residents fighting to protect their homes, yes, but also to assert and cement their rights and attachments to their community..." Wallace concluded.
While residents wait, yet again, for more new plans and visions, Salford Council or Salix Homes (no-one even knows who owns the tinned-up houses any more) are cashing in on lucrative location fees, as Peter Kay, surrounded by security guards, dips his toe into some very deep seated Salford problems.
See also previous related Salford Star articles...
Salford Council A Menace Bogged Down In Failure and Incompetence (with more details of Dr Wallace's work) click here
NDC Regeneration Shambles in Whit Lane click here
Eight Year Whit Lane Regeneration Mess click here
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