The blooms of fine dust travel in the air staining net curtains in nearby homes. For those living near the demolition of the Woodside Estate everyday has become a living nightmare.

Denise Mannion of Fox Street is now demanding some sort of compensation for the distress and health risk that she and her family have had to put up with since this demolition began.

“It’s fly tipping and the vermin as well as all that dust and noise Rob,” she explains “The rats are moving about on a nightly basis and I’ve had ’em on the cellar head in my house.” Denise who has two dogs and four cats has been overrun with Pye Bank’s migration of vermin, and believes she has every right to claim compensation.

Jean Burley, Area Housing Manager for Burngreave, told the Messenger, “We don’t normally give compensation to residents on the edge of demolition, but residents should contact the housing office if they have complaints and each case will be considered on an individual basis.”

As the Messenger goes to press there are 28 families still living in Woodside waiting to be rehoused. Some are waiting for the government’s increase in home loss payment, from £1,500 to £3,000, to come into effect in September before they take properties being offered to them.

Jean Burley said, “We are still hoping there will be no need to decant people, we will try and work the demolition around those families still remaining until the last possible moment. We are aiming for demolition to be finished by the end of March. The New Deal funding that can make this happen is still being finalised. Decsions around this are being made at a Council Cabinet meeting in September. ”