This week the council launched a significantly smaller consultation on the future of the streets around Liddell Terrace and Saltwell Place. This time only three boards and no disguised terminology to hide the word demolition. They are just going to renovate and restore the good design of the area.
Most residents will find these ideas have a familiar ring - no demolition, renovation, return of fences and defining space. In fact the restoration of the genuine Victorian character of the area.
All these ideas were proposed back in the summer of 2005 when Saltwell and Bensham Residents Association delivered their alternative ideas to the council. It was an alternative to spending £40 million on demolition.
Right now approximately 30 families are in bed and breaskfast accommodation in Gateshead. The highest ever. Meanwhile this year Gateshead have demolished the very houses that could have been renovated for those families. Gateshead Council have said that there are 600 "abandoned" houses in the Saltwell and Bensham area. It begs the question that if this is really true why are the homeless increasing and not decreasing.
Mrs Thatcher sold off social housing in the 1980s but neither the Conservatives nor the Labour Party have prioritised social housing since. The people of this area have been let down by a philosphy of letting the private sector do it all. The problem is that the private sector want to build luxury appartments for buy to let speculators.
This new consultation is beginning to show Gateshead Council has a concern for the area ordinary people actually live in rather than a desire to turn central Gateshead into a profit centre for developers. We can only hope they end the madness of demolition and support the communityof Saltwell and Bensham.
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