Star date: 28th April 2010

"WAR ZONES" – REGENERATION SPENDS MORE ON DEMOLITIONS THAN RE-BUILDING SALFORD  

Liverpool Council Leader Admits Pathfinder Mistake – So How About Salford?

In an incredible admission, Liverpool Council Leader Warren Bradley has admitted that the demolition derby, also known as the Housing Market Renewal project, or Pathfinder, has "ripped the heart" out of communities and left whole areas looking like "war zones".

Since day one of the Salford Star, residents here have been telling us the same story over and over again… "They're ripping the heart out of Salford". For a council leader to admit this is unheard of – now will Salford's political leaders own up to the mistakes?

Full exclusive details here of how Pathfinder has spent more on demolitions than re-buiding…

Housing Market Renewal (HMR), also known as Pathfinder, is the John Prescott led project that has pumped millions of pounds into `regenerating' Salford's poorest areas. Higher Broughton, Lower Broughton, Langworthy, Charlestown and Lower Kersal are the areas of Central Salford that have seen the bulldozers move in, millions of pounds spent and areas either left derelict, grassed over or with new housing put up that no-one wants. We could write a book of disasters on each area but the bottom line spells it out...

Government figures show that for the year 2008 – 2009 the Salford Manchester Pathfinder had almost £52million, of which a massive £32million was spent on acquiring land, demolitions and displacing the existing community.

Meanwhile, housing that has been put up has proved either too expensive for people on average incomes or totally unwanted. Whole complexes in New Broughton, Broughton Green and Unity Quarter have been turned over to social housing to basically bail out developers and save the Council's face as housing remained unsold – before the recession. Other areas have just been grassed over or left with derelict empty houses. This at a time when the housing waiting lists get longer every week and Anna Crowther from the Audit Commission has gone on record saying that homelessness is a "key issue" in Salford.

Now Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool City Council, has gone on record saying that the Pathfinder scheme in Liverpool has been a total disaster…

"You can't rip the heart of the community and promise them something in 15 years time" he told the Liverpool Echo "I just don't think it is correct, but we are where we are. We have now got the job of rebuilding communities and giving them reassurance."

In the run up to the local and general election next week, will Salford Council Leader John Merry or standing MP Hazel Blears admit the same mistakes?