Star date: 30th March 2021

WESTMINSTER HOUSE TENANTS NEGLECTED IN £22MILLION ARTIFEX AND CANON GREEN COMPLEX

Residents in Westminster House, now part of the Salix Homes complex comprising the £22million new Artifex block for 'young professionals' and the refurbished Canon Green Court, are living with overflowing bins and rats in their flats.

"I'm at the end of my tether" says one resident "I've got rats in my kitchen cupboards. We've been treated very unfairly; we're left behind in everything they do."

Full details here...

Salix Homes has begun marketing 108 Rent To Buy apartments at Artifex in Trinity, which is part of a complex comprising social housing blocks Canon Green Court and Westminster House.

Artifex was built by Salix Homes to finance refurbishment work at Canon Green Court, and after two controversial planning panel meetings got approval from Salford City Council (see here and see here).

The Artifex flats are being marketed via Salix Homes' property company, Willo Homes, aimed at young professionals who are in full time work and have a household income below £80,000, who will pay 80% of market rent for five years before having the option to buy.

"Artifex is an ambitious and inspiring development you can be proud to call home" states the publicity "...Prime location, spacious homes and the chance to one day own your own apartment makes Artifex an ideal opportunity. One and two bedroom apartments are available, each benefiting from thoughtful layouts, premium fixtures and fittings and high-end finishes. Artifex residents also enjoy access to shared landscaped garden areas, rarely found in city living."

A few yards away from the new build block is Westminster House, and the contrast couldn't be starker. Here, tenants live in social housing in a block that has been established for decades and, while no-one wanted to give their names, everyone the Salford Star spoke to was furious.

"I've killed 15 rats in one month; one was in the bath" said one tenant, while another's partner had a rat scurry past while she was on the toilet..."I've got rats in five of my kitchen cupboards that I can't use" said another "I've rat poison all over my kitchen. The rats were here before all building work but since that started it's got worse.

"Nothing's been done" they added "There's no-one doing anything. I'm at the end of my tether – I hate going into my flat now."

Outside the flats, residents pointed to multi sites of rat and mice holes, which themselves were a few yards away from the one overflowing bin container which services Westminster House's 33 flats.

Meanwhile, unlike the other two blocks, there's no security on this block at all – "Apparently we had a vote to reject it but no-one can remember it" – while no caretaker has been seen on the block for twelve months at least, residents said.

One tenant has been told to remove a decking area outside his flat that has been there for over ten years, complete with probably Salford's only real and growing banana trees. The reason given, post-Grenfell, was that the decking was wood and too near the flats; but tenants suspect it has more to do with it not looking 'right' as a view for the new tenants at Artifex.

"We've been treated very unfairly, we're left behind in everything they do" said another tenant "They've done the facia here but only to make them look good to sell the new flats...."

Another, pointing to Westminster House added "This will be gone in two years..They're not going to let 33 people get away with paying rent on here when they can put up over one hundred of those new flats. This is prime land.

"Look at the shoddy job they've done on here, papering over the crap" they added "These flats are falling apart. We've been here a long time, it's not fair. They're running this block down..."

A Salix Homes spokesperson responded..."Westminster House is situated within Canon Green Campus, which has recently undergone a major improvement and regeneration programme. As part of that programme of work, extensive external improvements have been made at Westminster House, transforming both the aesthetics and thermal efficiency of the building.
 
"Extensive environmental and landscaping work is also currently underway within the grounds of the site, which once complete will include new seating, a gardening /planting area for residents, new paving and pathways and three new bin store areas, with one situated opposite Westminster House" they added.
 
"There are currently temporary bin provisions in place while work to create the three new bin store facilities is completed and we expect these will be ready in May" they explained "Salford Council determines the number and size of refuse bins required in line with their guidelines, however we are aware of issues with missed collections due to access and we are working closely with residents and Salford Council to resolve this matter."

The publicity for Artifex has the strapline 'Beautiful. Sustainable. Affordable... Everything on your doorstep'...including rats, if the problem is not sorted soon...