Will Palin, Director of SAVE Britain's Heritage, paid a visit on Saltwell and Bensham Residents Association today. Will joined our Secretary Nancy Bone on a tour of the area and had a chance to meet our campaign team.
SAVE has had a 30 year history as a national campaign fighting to keep Britain's historic built environment for future generations. A fight that has been made much more difficult by mass demolition in Pathfinder areas.
Two years ago the previous Director of SAVE labelled Saltwell and Bensham the least appropriate area for Pathfinder he had seen. Now that Armstrong Street has been demolished Will labelled the controversial demolition process as a "national scandal that should be exposed".
Will had been invited for lunch just a few yards from a street bulldozed by Gateshead Council. Resident Tish Brown explained that her home had only been saved from the council by action in the High Court.
The demolition has caused stress and anxiety in many homes threatened by Gateshead Council. During the afternoon campaigners pointed out the absurd nature of the demolition proposals taking out only one side of street of identical houses. Will was used to the absurd being the son of Monty Python's Michael Palin. On this occasion demolishing people's homes would make no-one laugh other than the millionaire property developers who were going to get the land for a song from Gateshead Council.
As SAVE is a national campaign Will brought along the SAVE report on effects of Pathfinder in other parts of the country. He discussed with members of the association his findings from a recent trip to Manchester.
Residents discussed the problems of safety and security living in an area abandoned by the local authority and the problems caused by blight. Everyone was concerned at the destruction of a growing community by top-down proposals based purely on financial considerations.
Links
SAVE Website
SAVE Pathfinder Report
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