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SALFORD RIVERSIDE DEMOLITIONS
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Star date: 2nd October 2009
SOLD DOWN THE RIVER!
As Salford's housing waiting list hits almost 20,000, we're sure all those people will be pleased to hear that, rather than refurbishing tinned up houses to meet the huge demand, the Council and NDC (Now Demolishing a City) continue to knock them down.
The latest to be bulldozed are 184 terraces, off Littleton Road in Lower Kersal, right by the picturesque banks of the River Irwell. The Salford Star has maintained since our first issue that the only reason these houses were due to be demolished in the first place was their sexy setting for developers...given that identical houses further up Littleton Road but set back from the River (and not sexy for developers) were done up rather than demolished.
Full details here… |
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Just a few months before houses off Littleton Road in Lower Kersal were due to be demolished, the NDC (Now Definitely Clueless) decided to plant some new trees all along the road. This surely shows the mentality of an organisation that the community lost faith in a long time ago.
In the very first issue of the Salford Star, a resident who lived in one of the houses up for demolition by the Irwell Riverbank coined the phrase "social cleansing", as plans for yuppie flats all along the Irwell were unveiled.
In 2005, developers, Miller Homes and ID4Living were chosen to build on the Riverside sites but so far not a brick has been laid – indeed, there are already provisions within the £350,000 demolition contract agreed by the Council recently for these seven streets to be "soiled, seeded and knee railed"… "should there be a significant gap between the completion of these enabling works, and the start of development on site".
Work will begin this month on the demolition of the 184 houses in Thursfield Street, Reading Street, Chinley Street, Wainman Street, Suffolk Street, Levens Street and part of Littleton Road, despite attempts, we understand, by a different developer to save and refurbish them at a cost of only £30,000 apiece, and despite six residents still actually living there.
A Report by the Chief Exec of NDC and the Council's `Strategic Director for Sustainable Regeneration' on 21st September stated that the demolitions will "help maintain community confidence in the redevelopment process, as it is likely to serve as a powerful signal that the development process is entering a significant phase"…Of `soil, seeds and knee rails'?
The Report also states that the properties must be bulldozed because they "will be subject to vandalism attacks". We'll let the community decide who are the actual `vandals'…
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Mark Vickers wrote
at 9:06:41 AM on Sunday, October 25, 2009 |
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| As a former resident of Reading Street(where I will also have fond childhood memories off) it breaks my heart for this area to be erased for a quick buck!!!
Nice to see Salford City Council yet again totally mis-manage (and mis understand) the needs of the Salford people! |
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Gary Duke wrote
at 10:39:39 AM on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 |
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| If the ruling Labour group on Salford City Council wonder why after the elections, they have a much reduced presence, their own ambitions to put profits of construction companies before the needs of ordinary citizens of Salford, might act as a salutary reminder. It is clear to anyone who lives in Salford, that 'social cleansing' has been on the cards for years. it's what Salford City Council are good at! Yet what I find even more galling is that we are in the middle of one of the deepest recessions in living memory. Tens of thousands of building workers are on the dole. Yet the refurbishment of these homes on Littleton Road, would provide many skilled construction workers with immediate employment, AND give the people of Salford low cost, desperately needed council housing. Instead, the far-sighted city councillors' view is that it's better to employ one council worker to mow what will become bricks and mortar turned to grass every few weeks or so in the Spring and Summer . I am inclined to suggest that this is madness, but it is not. It is criminal. It is the behaviour we have associated in the past with the corrupt politicians and the Mafia in Italy. We need to get these people out of office and get people in who put the rights and needs of ordinary working people before the long-term profits of multinational construction companies. |
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Cath Connett wrote
at 8:12:46 AM on Saturday, October 03, 2009 |
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| Off with their heads! (Cath) |
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g.cooper wrote
at 11:07:40 PM on Friday, October 02, 2009 |
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what i would like to know is why when across the road at the old student accomadation the land is worth 1million per hectre,yet in ndc land we give it away free!!!
Stats available from Salford University Master-planing September 2009
Finnally what is going to happen to the people who have always maintained they wanted to stay within the area? when there Demoliting there homes.
This reminds me of other regeneration initives within Salford,that there only legacy is Knee Rails And Seeding.. and economically nothing has changed.
It is very similar to Land aquiring by lead supermarkets etc.
power to the people
graham |
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Eddie Smith wrote
at 11:07:36 PM on Friday, October 02, 2009 |
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| I wonder if that nice new tarmac path alongside the river was influenced by these plans? I'd bet if there was no plans for this, there would be no path there right now!!! |
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