House clearance plans 'on target'
Published on 5th April 2007 in News
'Let us get on with it' is the message to landlords who are refusing to sell their houses as part of the Advance Goole project.
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) owns all but a handful of the houses on Richard Cooper Street and Phoenix Street and plans to demolish them as part of a regeneration scheme.
The project has attracted much controversy and a local group, Goole Action Group (GAG), has been set up to fight the plans.
On Monday, Sally Burns, head of housing and public protection at the ERYC, was at a Goole Town Council meeting to update members and residents on the project's progress.
She insisted the ten-year project was on target and said: "The first three years were given over to the acquisition of properties on Richard Cooper and Phoenix Street, and the clearance of the Adelphi warehouse.
"We're now at the end of the second year, the beginning of the third year," she said.
"We have managed to acquire 90 per cent of the 117 houses.
"What we have left is 11 to 12 properties owned generally by landlords.
"By the end of year three we should have acquired all of Richard Cooper and Phoenix Street and commenced demolition, and commenced demolition of the Adelphi warehouse."
Other parts of the project, such as funding to improve the surrounding streets and a Youth Build scheme to help young people gain new skills, are also progressing.
Demolition of the houses will not begin until the remaining properties have been purchased. Some landlords are refusing to sell.
One of these is Alan Wilson, who this week repeated his determination that he would not sell voluntarily and wanted a compulsory purchase order (CPO), which will mean a public inquiry.
"If the people who are left do not want to sell we will have to go to CPOs," said Ms Burns.
"At the moment, we are happy to voluntarily acquire the properties but we'll go for CPOs if we have to."
Asked why ERYC had not already started this option, when the landlords had made it clear they would not sell, Ms Burns said CPOs would delay things and were 'a waste of energy'.
The project has been criticised by Mr Wilson and GAG for ignoring residents' wishes but Ms Burns insisted on Monday that there had been two major pieces of consultation, along with a regular newsletter to let people know what was going on.
"Before we moved in, 40 per cent of those properties were empty. They were in a horrendous state," she said.
"This scheme is to improve the town," she added.
Addressing criticism from GAG that lack of security had led to crime in and around the empty houses, Ms Burns said: "We've been trying to secure them as best we can.
"The answer is to let us get on with it."
Before any of the houses can be demolished, plans will have to be submitted and Ms Burns said this was likely to be in mid-summer.
'Appalling' living conditions
Councillors expressed concern for the residents still living there and echoed the need for something to be done, urgently, to improve what Cllr Pat O'Neil described as "absolutely appalling" living conditions.