Time for action on streets

Published on 31st January 2008 in Letters

Sir - I note with interest that a number of your readers are now calling for action on Richard Cooper and Phoenix Street. ERYC told me last week that they do not have a timetable for the issue of Compulsory Purchase Orders (which is required by law before any action can take place) and that they intend to continue with voluntary acquisition.

This is despite the fact that they have acquired nothing for over a year and have very little chance of acquiring any further properties in these two streets in the future. Isn't it time that the elected representatives of Goole got off the fence and asked ERYC just what is happening. Or is the truth of the matter that they do not care? In 2006 Goole Town Council were promised a fortnightly update by ERYC on the progress of Advance Goole, but only one update has been received and that was to tell everyone that ERYC were on target and on budget.

This is clearly not the case. Sally Burns has stated publicly that all the 117 homes in Richard Cooper Street and Phoenix Street will be demolished by the end of "Year 3", which is in fact 31/03/08. This is not likely to happen, so how can ERYC still be on target?

As for 'on budget' - surely the lack of Council Tax income from the site for the last three years and probably for the next four, together with the ongoing high cost of maintenance must now be eating into this budget. So perhaps, just once in this whole sorry cycle of bad management and incompetence, can somebody in ERYC tell the whole story?

Just what is the timetable for the site? Over the past three and a half years ERYC and Sally Burns have blamed Goole Action Group, "greedy landlords", me personally and, of course, the "speculative developer", but never themselves for holding up Advance Goole.

ERYC has a wealth of legal expertise to hand, so why don't they use it and issue Compulsory Purchase Orders for the remaining properties? They have been threatening to issue them since 2005, but have always returned to "voluntary acquisition". Why? They could have brought this madness to an end in 2005, and chose not to do so, and still today choose not to do so. Why? This is the question our elected representatives should be demanding an answer to.

ERYC seem content to let this matter drift until such time as the remaining residents and property owners tire of the inaction and are driven out, meanwhile the rest of Shuffleton declines to such an extent that this then also becomes a target for demolition.

Alan Wilson

Boothferry Road, Goole