Judge and Jury

On 7th November 2007 Gateshead Council will be applying to demolish the first street of homes in it's mass demolition of central Gateshead's historic late Victorian centre.

The planning process allows residents to object and be heard. However this right is pretty superficial and is likely to be a formality. The reason why is that Gateshead Council needs planning permission from Gateshead Council. I will summarise: Gateshead Council is buying up peoples' homes for the purpose of demolition so it can speculate on land values and sell on prime building land to property developers. Thus it is the prime beneficiary of a successful application. The people charged with looking after the public interest in all of this are Gateshead Council.

With millions of pounds at stake versus the interests of ordinary hard working families the Council is likely to side with the millionaire property developers rather than the community they are supposed to serve. Thus the system itself is weighted towards the interests of the few.

Billion Pound Question

Inside Housing has followed up it's original tale that £1 billlion was to have been cut from pathfinder with the information that this changed at the last minute. Instead the current £1 billion stands.

Ian Wright, MP for Hartlepool, and now minister for demolition in the north has released figures that indicate a greater emphasis on funding Hull and Teeside. The Inside Housing analysis suggests that with rising costs for the flawed demolition strategy and the redirection of funds this represents a 14% cut to most pathfinder projects.

In human terms this might mean as many as 40 homes saved from the wreaking ball here in Saltwell and Bensham. Or it could just mean more waste paying for demolition instead of construction.

Source: Inside Housing

Determined to destroy using taxpayers cash

Last year Elizabeth Pascoe took English Partnerships and Liverpool City Council to the High Court alleging they had acted illegally over their pathfinder proposals to demolish homes in Liverpool. She won.

She also won over the additional charge that John Prescott, as Secretary of State, had acted illegally in granting planning permission for demolition.

She is yet to be paid her costs.

Now English Partnerships have come back with a different demolition plan. They intend to waste further taxpayers money fighting ordinary citizens through the courts. The tactic is simple - spend the bottomless pit of taxpayers money until the protesters run out of cash. The merits of the case have been decided in Mrs Pascoe's favour but the bureaucratic mechanism that favours wealthy property developers over people continues.

Instead of these government agencies spending money on lawyers have they considered spending money on improving peoples' homes?


Links
The Daily Telegraph

Housing Renewal Faces Massive Cutbacks

The controversial and unpopular pathfinder housing renewal programme may face swingeing cuts after Alistair Darling's pre-budget statement in the House of Commons.

According to Inside Housing the Chancellor is going to plunder the housing renewal budget to pay for new house building. Official documents were released and then quickly withdrawn but the trend is away from the costly demolition policy.

According to the Chancellor some £4 billion will now pay for renovation rather than demolition.

Gateshead Council should call time on their demolition strategy and bid for renovation funds.


Link
Inside Housing

Independence Day In Saltwell and Bensham

A border guard and "genuine" Geordie passports met visitors to MacAdam Street on Saturday 6th October as residents declared themselves independent of the UK.

The declaration of independence was designed to use the words of the American colonies in 1776 in order to highlight the lack of democracy in Gateshead. The local council has proposed the demolition of 440 homes based on a flawed consultation and the prospect of millions of pounds of taxpayers money to pay for demolition. Residents have been largely ignored in the process despite a 1,300 signature petition opposing the plan.

By symbolically declaring independence the residents are leaving Gateshead since they feel Gateshead Council has abandoned them.

The afternoon's events were an echo of the 1949 Ealing Comedy "Passport to Pimlico" where London residents were depressed at post-war Britain. In this case our border guard was protecting residents from the harsh environment of streets abandoned by Gateshead Council.

One resident, representing the cynicism of many, said that these streets were full of good neighbours until the council moved in the troublesome tennants from all over Gateshead. The area became blighted by council attempts to create an atomosphere of decline in which they could apply for Government cash and justify demolition to ministers.

Many people arrived to support those threatened with losing their homes. The "border guard" had a hard time checking passports.

The problem with symbolic independence, no matter how sincere, is that you have to return to the real world that Gateshead Council provide. Minutes after the end of the protest a gang of up to 15 youths decided to have a street fight. Residents called Northumbria Police who took nearly 45 minutes to arrive. They took the dramatic action of sitting in their patrol car and chatted to the people who had been causing dis-order a few minutes earlier.

Demolition isn't just about housing it is also about the destruction of peaceful communities and the human right of people to live securely in their own home. Gateshead Council are destroying that right and perhaps making the case for people to seek independence from Gateshead better than the residents' protest.