The total Pathfinder scheme to date in Salford and Manchester (they won't break it down into cities) has been funded with £322million of public money. From the start of the scheme until October this year, a total of 935 new properties have been built, while 2,800 have been bulldozed. An average of over three houses bulldozed for every one built.
Meanwhile, figures released in February by Salford's Choice Based Letting (CBL) showed that there are 18,400 people on the city's housing register. CBL handles Salford's social housing placements and, each week, around sixty properties are advertised and 3,089 bids are received. That's over fifty people chasing every home available.
This hasn't stopped the bulldozing of Salford's affordable terrace housing which continues despite uncertain plans for new houses. In October we revealed that 184 houses in Charlestown were to be demolished - in Thursfield Street, Reading Street, Chinley Street, Wainman Street, Suffolk Street, Levens Street and part of Littleton Road – and the demolition costs of £350,000 included plans for the area 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".
The bulldozers have now moved in as more of Salford's heritage and potentially affordable housing is wiped from the map…
* Our photos show Reading Street reduced to a pile of bricks and the bulldozer smashing up Suffolk Street
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