Star date: 2nd June 2016

AS KEEPMOAT PREPARES TO MAKE £10MILLION PROFIT, KIDS CAN'T PLAY

As developer, Keepmoat, prepares to build 429 houses and make over £10million profit from the Whit Lane estate in Charlestown, the local play area is festooned with bottles, cans and dog dirt with children dodging the rubbish to play on the swings.

"It's horrendous" says local mum, Becca Doran "I've never seen anyone clear it up...Never mind the regeneration, this is about the safety of the kids..."

Full details here...

It's half term, the sun is shining and at the so-called Charlestown Play Area on the Whit Lane estate there's no kids playing at all. On the swings are two friendly teenagers dodging the cans, old shoes and bottles, helpfully pointing out the mess and shaking their heads... "It's horrible" they say.

The Salford Star has been documenting the limbo in which local residents have been left for over ten years, as various regeneration schemes have failed miserably – none more so than the £53million Charlestown and Lower Kersal New Deal for Communities, which academic Andrew Wallace has written about extensively in a book and various papers.

Wallace wrote that the whole Whit Lane regeneration left a "legacy of injustice ...through inaction", leaving a "decimated landscape" and a "casual disregard for residents and the limbo they have been forced to endure". Salford Council, he wrote, was "a menace bogged down in incompetence and failure"*...

Locals call Whit Lane the `Forgotten Estate' and have seen dangerous crumbling buildings, constant fly tipping and cannabis factories dumped on the land. Comedian Peter Kay was even accused of fly tipping after filming in the area (see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here and click here ).

In March, planning permission was given to developer Keepmoat to build 429 houses, of which only 63 will be classed as `affordable' in the first two phases, and only 18 will be for social rent in the first phase. Meanwhile, documents obtained by the Salford Star showed that Keepmoat will be making over £10million profit from the scheme (see previous Salford Star article – click here).

The planning application also confirmed that, while new play areas will be provided, the area will lose 1.34hectares of open space. The new recreation facilities won't be built until the second phase of development, and in the meantime parents and kids have to live with a shocking excuse for a play area that's festooned with cans, bottles, dog dirt and other rubbish, with burnt out, overflowing bins...

"I have a two year old boy who I bring to play here, with it being a local park" says mum Becca Moran "He ends up just picking all the litter up, bottles, sharp wood, tins...I've never seen anyone clear it up. It's atrocious, it's dirty, there's rubbish and dog poo everywhere; there's nowhere for children to play. It's horrendous.

"They even took the park fence away" she adds "Never mind the regeneration, I just want the park fence back up; it's about the safety of the kids before they get attacked by dogs. It's horrible having to grow up around here. I let my son potter around but have to watch everything he does."

While any kids brave enough dodge the rubbish and the dog poo, over in the far corner of the `park' Keepmoat has been lapping up positive publicity surrounding an archaeological dig. It's part of a condition imposed by Salford City Council for planning permission, which includes unearthing the remains of the mill owned by `Black' Bill Douglas, the cruel 19th Century capitalist who exploited children.

Perhaps Keepmoat et al should clear up the current mess that is putting modern day children in danger before cashing in on the past...

* See also previous Salford Star articles...

Salford Council: A Menace Bogged Down In Failure and Incompetence - click here

NDC Regeneration Shambles in Whit Lane - click here