The pain of losing your home

Posted By: Robin Parker
Date Posted: 26/09/2007

In my last entry I talked about the proposal to demolish 190 improved properties on Langley by Housing Market Renewal. Last night I came face to face with the reality, real people who had nurtured their homes for up to 50 years and were now faced with eviction.

Langley Tenants and Residents called a meeting of those affected in a packed All Saints and Martyrs Church Hall. Once a couple of politicos had been stopped trying to do the divide and rule bit (no names, no pack drill), we were able to listen to the real issues. There was not one person in the room in favour of the scheme. What had been proposed as a green corridor has now been renamed a dog toilet. But the most painful part was listening to people’s stories and how they felt let down by the people they thought they could trust. There was very little we could say other than that we would fight the proposals on their behalf.

How has it come to this? How much has it cost to employ consultants to draw up this scheme and then deliver it to every house in full colour? How is it that well paid officers with more than half a brain have stopped listening to elected representatives? It must be a year since Lil Murphy and I met the HMR officers and we then told them that their proposals didn’t have a cat in Hell’s chance of support. Why did they ignore us? What is wrong with the senior management at HMR and Rochdale Council that they’ve stopped checking out with members on the ground?

There is one way forward. Cancel the demolition proposals with immediate effect and then let’s talk about a sensible development strategy which we can all buy into and which includes the latest Government policy on new Social Housing. Unless sanity prevails amongst the officer class, the whole HMR on Langley could collapse like a house of cards. And that’s in nobody’s interest.