Public Meeting - Lower Falinge and College Bank - regeneration, community and profit

Friday 08 September 2017
7.30pm

St Mary in the Baum
St Mary's Gate/Toad Lane
Rochdale
OL16 1DZ

Details:

The recent proposals for the regeneration of Lower Falinge and College Bank have attracted a good deal of local and national attention. Most of the attention has been focused on the extent of demolition.

It is certainly a deep cause for concern, because taking account of the proposals for demolition, and the present proposals for new properties to be built, there will certainly be a very significant loss of properties for social rent, in favour of rent to buy and ‘affordable’ properties, which it is by no means certain that a large proportion of the present population of both estates would be able to afford.

Lower Falinge, in particular, has had a wholly unearned reputation as some sort of ‘sink’ estate, when in fact it is a highly diverse and cohesive community.

The context for redevelopment has two main aspects.

One is that redevelopment is needed.

There are properties no longer fit for purpose that are not suitable for refurbishment.

There is also the ongoing problem of government social, welfare, and housing policy, which is wholly biased against the social housing sector.

Government housing policy is the reason why the proposals at present are biased towards rent to buy and ‘affordable’ properties, and for less properties for social rent.

I have serious doubts about the number of properties being demolished, and I do not think that refurbishment of existing properties has really been examined seriously, for those properties that are suitable for refurbishment.

The needs of vulnerable residents are also a serious concern, and serious attention needs to be paid to their needs.

Bearing all this mind, there is going to be a public meeting at St Mary’s in the Baum at 7.30pm, on Friday 8 September, open to all concerned with these vital issues, with guest speakers with experience of this sort of regeneration, speakers who work and volunteer in the communities, and most importantly the people who live in those communities, who have not had or been given sufficient or adequate opportunity to say what they want.

Contact: David Fenwick Finn

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