'Crime stigma' Shipley flats to be demolished (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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'Crime stigma' Shipley flats to be demolished
7:00am Tuesday 4th September 2012 in News
Councillor Rizwan Malik at the flats in Shipley which will be demolished
Plans to demolish two blocks of flats in Shipley will rid the area of its anti-social stigma, says a ward councillor.
Councillor Rizwan Malik (Lab, Heaton ) said it was good news that social housing group Incommunities had announced a scheme to knock down 20 flats at Shipley Fields within the next two years.
The flats involved will be 287 to 305 and 307 to 325 Valley Road, and Incommunities has pledged to work with the tenants to help them with re-housing.
An Incommunities spokesman said it intended to demolish the flats because the properties had “proved unpopular to let” and would be too expensive to refurbish.
He added: “In the future we are looking to redevelop the site of these blocks to provide affordable family-sized homes. This demonstrates our strong commitment to use brownfield sites for future housing and protect the district’s green belt.”
Coun Rizwan said Incommunities’ plans would be welcomed because the flats were out-dated and had a stigma attached to them.
“It’s true the flats there have been unpopular with people. People have refused to move there because they don’t think it is a safe area. There is an unfortunate stigma attached to them around anti-social behaviour and crime issues.
“New accommodation would help improve the area and remove the reputation it’s had. The area deserves better quality accommodation to give it and its residents a boost, although we don’t want to see the number of properties reduced.
“It’s also reassuring to hear Incommunities has said it will work with people living there at the moment to find them acceptable alternatives and hopefully keep them close to family and friends,” he said.
Earlier this year, Incommunities had a derelict block of flats demolished on its behalf in the Goitside area of Bradford city centre ready for redevelopment. The notorious U-shaped block at Chain Street was known locally as Death Row.
Last year, a £960,000 grant from the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency was secured for the Roundhill Place and Chain Street development, along with £100,000 from Bradford Council’s Empty Properties Programme.
The money funded the demolition and refurbishment of two blocks of bedsits, and is contributing to the building of the first ten affordable homes. Plans for that site include 33 family-sized homes and work is due to start early next year.
Comments(11)
i hate bradford
says...
9:55am Tue 4 Sep 12
a reasonable sort of chap
says...
11:04am Tue 4 Sep 12
i hate bradford wrote:That's quite an assumption. Drug dealing is also rife in my area, and probably in most areas of the UK, but it is the public/residents themselves who are buying the drugs.
They need to knock the rest of them down too they are a disgrace. Another reason they are unpopular is there close proximity to other areas where drug dealing is rife.
Chelsea1997
says...
2:54pm Tue 4 Sep 12
birday wrote:Perfectly good homes to live! leaking roofs electrics that go off every time it rain lights that dont turn off sockets that spark boilers that that get condemned walls with huge cracks, perfectly good homes to live my arse!
Pathetic, don't get this - country's bust, no one has any money (even for affordable housing) and we're knocking down perfectly good homes. . It's not the flats that are the problem it's the people, deal with the people and then there'll be no problem. . Who's making out of these idiotic plans? . Crooked!
we have to work and pay for ours 90% of them get them free !
AHS
says...
11:39pm Tue 4 Sep 12
i hate bradford
says...
6:23pm Wed 5 Sep 12
AntiDrug
says...
9:13am Thu 6 Sep 12
& what have they done Bfd Council ?
Just give all the foreigners The flats, & So we have the Same problem here as elsewhere in bradford DRUGS, We are not the Curry Capital But WE ARE The Drugs capital, With a So called Police force That is 99% Useless
thatsnotmyname
says...
10:07am Fri 7 Sep 12
jazzyjeff1989
says...
9:07pm Sat 8 Sep 12
a reasonable sort of chap wrote:For the people who think they are perfectly good homes.. why don't you try living in them? I lived in the bottom floor flat, with my mother who was very very poorly with a mental illness, we lived next door to a pedophile, and upstairs there was alot of noise from a woman who used to beat her husband into submission. I lost alot of things due to the disgusting mold that plagued our flat. For those who know the area, we lived in the ground floor flat in the brown flats. It was mouldy, damp, my bed was constantly damp, the walls were slimy. I wouldn't have even offered it to my worst enemy. If you ask me, they all need condeming and pulling down, and as for the people who talk about drug dealing. The reason why crime is so bad in the area, is because they place people there that are desperate. If anyone disagrees with me, 191 Valley road is where I lived. I was 13 at the time, and it was a nightmare.
i hate bradford wrote:That's quite an assumption. Drug dealing is also rife in my area, and probably in most areas of the UK, but it is the public/residents themselves who are buying the drugs.
They need to knock the rest of them down too they are a disgrace. Another reason they are unpopular is there close proximity to other areas where drug dealing is rife.
jazzyjeff1989
says...
9:09pm Sat 8 Sep 12
jazzyjeff1989
says...
9:13pm Sat 8 Sep 12
birday says...
9:41am Tue 4 Sep 12
.
It's not the flats that are the problem it's the people, deal with the people and then there'll be no problem.
.
Who's making out of these idiotic plans?
.
Crooked!