"There'll be no community around here soon, it's just going to be full of strangers..." Mary
Shalimar convenience store on Chapel Street, opposite Salford Cathedral, has served the local community for 35 years through thick and thin...
"There was only me that stayed in this area when things got hard, and now it's starting to get better I'm the first one they want to get rid of, the front line" says Mo, as he's affectionately known by his many customers.
After a long battle in which he was refused a new shop under Vimto Gardens next door, he has now received a 'notice to quit' by September as landlord Salford City Council ends his tenancy....
"You are aware that the area is being redeveloped and the Council now wish to arrange for demolition of the premises to allow a redevelopment scheme to take place" states a sniffy letter from Urban Vision "The landlord requires vacant possession so that demolition can take place subsequent to termination."
The bulldozers and diggers have already moved in at the back of Mo's shop, his yard fenced off with no access or parking.
"I think they want to get rid of the shop first, then the estate" he decides "Obviously they don't want it next to their posh apartments, and I don't think it's fair on people who have lived for generations in this area. They are doing nothing whatsoever for them but we will carry on fighting, we're never going to stop."
A few years ago, the community came out in support of Mo, with a campaign to save the shop after he was refused new premises at Vimto Gardens, where the Co-Op moved in instead. Despite the competition, the shop has continued to remain open and busy much to the chagrin of the authorities.
The 'authorities' in this case are Salford Council and the English Cities Fund, or ECf, a partnership between Legal and General, Muse Developments and Homes England.
The ECf has already built ridiculously expensive properties at Vimto Gardens, Timekeeper Square and Carpino Place, with no affordable housing despite the venture being underwritten with public money.
Now, ECf has planning permission along the site from the demolished Ye Olde Nelson pub to Vimto Gardens for four blocks up to seven storeys high containing 167 apartments and eleven townhouses, plus commercial space underneath for shops.
Mo would be happy to move to one of these units but, incredibly, he has been told that he has to leave his premises for over a year, until the units are built, before they will consider renting him one...
"That is just not practical as I'm going to lose all my stock and all my business" he explains "And even then, they won't give it me in writing."
To rub salt into the wounds, Salford Council is meeting next week to approve a subsidy of £8,111,261 for the new development, made up of £1,673,413 public money from the Government's Housing Infrastructure Fund, and £6,437,848 from the Salford Central Development Trust Account (DTA).
The DTA is a weird secretive fund which the Council formed with the ECf at the start of the Chapel Street regeneration. Instead of paying Section 106 monies to the Council for things like affordable housing and public realm, any payments from development goes into the DTA...
"The DTA operates to capture any monies generated once costs have been accounted for" stated the Council to the Salford Star under the Freedom of Information Act "...Any surpluses generated are then deposited in the DTA for use on items such as affordable housing and public realm..."
...Except that, as far as the Star can figure out, none of it has been spent on affordable housing, and certainly not in this latest development. Next week's Council report on the subsidy specifically notes that the DTA is "set up to lock in overage from more profitable phases to cross subsidise less viable phases".
And this latest scheme is said to be 'unviable' as ECf wouldn't make a 15% profit return if there wasn't a subsidy.
"Under the terms of the ODA [Overarching Development Agreement], ECf are entitled to a return of 15% on development costs and phases are subject to a viability test and ECf are only obliged to proceed with any phase where it is shown to be 'viable' ie where ECf should get back all phase-specific development costs and a full developers return" states the Council report.
"All costs incurred by the Council in acquiring and holding these assets will be borne by ECf but there is no additional land payment to the Council" it adds.
At the end of the whole Chapel Street regeneration, anything left in the DTA is split 50-50 between the ECF and the Council. If there's nowt left in the account the Council will have missed out on millions of pounds which could be put towards affordable housing. Instead, it seems, safeguarding the developer's profit is deemed more important.
While luxury apartments and niche townhouses are built on the site for what the Council calls 'transformational regeneration', the only thing that's going to be transformed is the break-up of the local community...
"I'll lose my job, and I'm devastated, it's all I've known" says licensee Mary McLoughlin "I live close by. Where am I going to get a job so close to home now? I've brought my kids up here, in this shop, and I know everybody in this community, it will be hard.
"There's no houses for the community being built, all these apartments are for yuppies but they're not even living in them they're renting them out" she adds "There's lots of party apartments where they rent them on Friday and Saturday nights. There'll be no community around here soon, it's just going to be full of strangers."
As The Sex Pistols once noted, it will be 'a holiday in other people's misery'...
* Ironically, in a leaflet sent out to the local community about the development, contractor Eric Wright is asking for "new investment opportunities to give something back to the local community" as part of its 'social responsibilities'...
"If you know of someone who is worthy of our help then please contact us to see how we can improve the community in which we are working" the leaflet states...How about sorting a new shop out for Mo???
For a full background see previous Salford Star articles...
Chapel Street Goes Sour - a full three page expose of the ECf and Mo's plight in the Salford Star print issue 9 – see electronic version here
£1.1million Government Subsidy for Unaffordable Housing in Chapel Street – click here
Nothing Back To Salford Community From Chapel Street - click here
Vimto Gardens Protest As Community Rebels Against Regeneration - click here
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