Woodside
update As reported in last month’s Messenger, the City Council have decided to clear the entire Woodside estate, wavy roofs and all. A ‘green space’ will be created, and left for up to five years, long-term plans having not been decided. Money had already been granted for the demolition of the flats and maisonettes in the area, and now the council are trying to find extra funding to clear the three and four bed houses. Only the five bedroom homes on Pye Bank Road, along with the flats and maisonettes on Nottingham Cliff and Rock Street, would remain. Councillor Ibrar Hussain has requested that monies be transferred from other areas, where demolition has been planned, but not yet unapproved: “In surveys and petitions local residents requested demolition of the whole area, because of the state of it. That included the wavy houses. It’s just become too much of a mess. I asked officers to find ways to follow the people’s request.” In a recent survey, of 206 Woodside residents, 133 responded. 75 people wanted partial clearence, 35 people wanted total clearance and 23 rejected both options. One local told me: “It’s just a total dump round here. Vandalism, burnt out cars, absolutely nothing to do, half my neighbours are scared to go out at night, there’s nothing you can do to the place, apart from pull it all down.” Cllr. Hussain also assured the Messenger that as far as possible tenants will be able to transfer to the area of their choice: “We will follow a common sense approach and see where people want to go, if that’s still in Pitsmoor or elsewhere.” Whilst some residents supported the demolition plans, others were far from happy. Kevin Hartney is a long-term resident, and leading figure in the fight to save Woodside: “I’m bitterly disappointed, but hardly surprised. The people round here have been forced into collaborating with the Council’s stock by more than ten years of neglect. I worry about the future of the rest of the councils stock in the area.” (See this month's Letters Page) For some the news is not just disappointing. There are few owner-occupiers on the estate, but for them the future is bleak. No decisions have been made as yet, though normal practice is to offer either a cash payment, or other council properties of the same value as that being compulsorily purchased – which is hardly a vast amount, and certainly not enough to purchase a similar property anywhere in the city. Cllr. Hussain has assured the Messenger that he will be raising the issue as a matter of urgency. Given the state that Woodside had been allowed to sink to, it’s not surprising that most of the residents want no more of it. For council housing as a whole, the future looks bleak. At the same time as Woodside is being demolished, there will be votes over the transfer of stock in other parts of the city, and much more demolition work is planned. With the Neville Drive flats being pulled down in the next few weeks, the Verdon Street maisonettes will be the last remnant of social housing suitable for families close to the city centre. Whilst it may be popular now, we have seen what can happen to an area all to quickly if it is decided the land could be ‘better’ used for something else.
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devastated resident, who has lived on Woodside since 1986, bought
her house last year. She doesn’t wish to be identified whilst
negotiations are still ongoing regarding any compensation:
“I’m devastated, and disgusted, nobody even told me officially. My son rang me and asked me what was going on because he’d read about it in the Messenger. I didn’t even know. I’ve been in that house 16 years, I’ve brought my family up there. I had no plans for moving. I’ve spent a bomb on doing it up. I won’t be able to get anywhere else that is as good as this. There’s room for me and my daughter, I’ve got a study and room for when the rest of the family come to stay. And the kitchen is wonderful for me, it’s got so much room, and I need that to run my business. Whatever compensation I might get won’t be enough to buy anything like it at all, here or anywhere else. I had more plans for the garden and redecorating, but there’s no point doing any more work on it now. I only bought the house last year, surely they must have known about the plans then, so why didn’t they tell me?” |
