4:04pm Monday 5th October 2009
By Matt Smith
THEY are some of the worst council properties in Southampton.
Many are tatty, cramped, riddled with damp and in desperate need of repair.
Now council tenants are looking forward to an ambitious £50m plan to transform their homes.
Housing chiefs want to bulldoze ageing council flats and rundown shops on four Southampton estates and make them places residents want to live.
An initial £6.4m is needed to kick-start the scheme. The council has committed about £4m, most of which will come from borrowing against the future sale of land to developers, and is in talks with the Government to make up the £2.4m shortfall. The remaining value of the regeneration will come from private developers or housing associations which will construct the new buildings.
Tory council leaders are now seeking offers from contractors to build two new shopping parades and up to 300 new homes.
View £50m revival for city estates in a larger map
The regeneration projects would see:
• 16 flats and maisonettes in Meggeson Avenue, Townhill Park flattened for 45 new flats and houses
• A parade of 11 shops, 80 flats and maisonettes at Exford Avenue and Exford Drive, Harefield replaced with up to 130 homes and four new shops
• 55 flats and maisonettes in Laxton Close,Weston, redeveloped into around 70 new houses and flats
• Ten maisonettes, ten shops, and offices at Cumbrian Way, Millbrook, knocked down for three or four shops and 56 houses and flats.
The council claims tenants have largely backed the schemes.
The proposals would see them moved out into council or housing association homes during construction and given the right to return when the new homes are built, which will be for sale and rent. At least 30 per cent in each scheme will be family homes.
Marie Hoey, a 25-year-old mum of four, is one of the tenants set to benefit.
She is keen to move out of her maisonette in Exford Avenue which has fallen into disrepair.
Everyone says they should have pulled these down years ago,” she said.
“Ever since we got told about this it’s been the top topic around here. It’s going to be great”.
However concerns remain.
Mrs Hoey said residents wanted assurances that if they moved back into the new homes the council would weed out troublemakers, improve security, and build community facilities to give youngsters something to do.
Other tenants and business owners worry where they will move to, how much compensation they will get, and question the fairness of leapfrogging others on the city’s housing waiting list.
Frank Bown, 80, of Hair of Harefield, a hairdresser, said while the future of his estate needed regeneration he did not want to start again.
Under the plans, eligible tenants will be given compensation of £4,700 for the loss of their homes and a “disturbance allowance” of £1,200 for a one-bed flat, £1,500 for two-bed and £1,800 for three or more bedroom home to cover removal costs.
The council’s Cabinet member for housing Councillor Phil Williams says: “We have gone to great lengths to speak directly with the local community and find out what they want and how we can work together to achieve this.
“I am pleased that local residents back our plans. It's great news for the city. I very much hope the residents will continue to be involved throughout the design process.”
The schemes follow in the footsteps of a pioneering £14m regeneration project in Thornhill.
Flats and shops on Hinkler Parade, which was built in the 1960s, are to be demolished and replaced with more than 100 new homes.
However there is still a question mark hanging over £2m of the funding after the Government cut one of its budgets.
Cabinet member for communities Councillor Royston Smith said the regeneration proposals would help the council get rid of inadequate housing, better use open spaces, design out crime, and hit housebuilding targets.
“Although I understand people are apprehensive, I do think it’s the way forward,” he said.
Developers for the latest four schemes will be selected later in the year. Planning permission will be sought next year and construction work lasting around 18 months is expected to start in early 2011.
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