Gateshead Council has continually put the case that there are too many flats in Saltwell and Bensham and part of the demolition plan is to have more family homes. Gateshead council claims that people are not moving into the area due to a lack of family homes.
Meanwhile on the other side of Bensham Road, less than half a mile from the proposed demolitions of 2 and 3 beadroom terraced family homes, planning permission has been given for the demolition of a care home. The developer wants to replace the care home with 4 and 5 storey luxury flats including underground car parking. So no family homes there!
A cynical person might look at the private sector luxury flats and compare it with Gateshead Councils previous statements on the need for family homes and conclude there is some hypocrisy in its decision process. The private sector does not appear to have a problem with building high density flats in the area and it seems to attract enough buyers. So why is Gateshead Council putting the case for family homes?
The same developer who is building high density luxury flats originally bought the land with the promise of building an "urban village" of family homes. It has built some family homes but it's big profits come from ever smaller high density flats.
Local residents ask whether Gateshead Council really believes that private developers will really want to build quality family homes when they have built high profit low quality flats on the other side of the road. Gateshead Council claims it can insist on the building of family homes - a pledge it has failed to live up to in every part of Gateshead.
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