Councillors fight to save flats under threat from bulldozer

Officials at Hull Council say “the only viable option” is to demolish all seven blocks, because of changes to the way council housing is being funded.

Figures in a new report suggest the taxpayer could have to pick up a subsidy of nearly £50,000 per flat by 2020, if the council retains three of the seven.

However, ward councillors say changes to Government benefit rules will mean an influx of people needing one-bedroomed accommodation and they think the low-rise blocks, Gorthorpe, Kinthorpe and Laxthorpe, should be kept.

In a recent consultation more than 60 per cent of tenants in the sheltered blocks, Kinthorpe and Laxthorpe, were against demolition.

Coun Steve Bayes, who represents Orchard Park, said: “If we get rid of all these flats, we go from having too many flats for single people to having virtually none.

“I am just very reluctant to say we will get rid of them all.

“People would have to go in alternative accommodation and it would mean people having to move from the area. When the original decision was taken we were going to get as part of a PFI bid 600 new council homes, but that’s all fallen down.

“It’s alright people saying they (the flats) are nothing but trouble, but if you are a homeless person living at the back of a derelict bombsite it’s almost a palace.

“With the welfare reforms we don’t know how many people are going to come into the area; the pressures could be immense.

“Do we want to put more people into B&B when there’s the option of putting them in single person accommodation which is cheaper?”

Fellow councillor Terry Geraghty said they had asked for a decision to be deferred till after Christmas and described the benefits shake-up as “disgraceful”.

“When you consider the billions we spend all over the world, in Libya and wherever, and we are supposed to be short of funds, but we can’t look after our own people, I think it is disgraceful.

“I don’t think people realise how much it is going to change their standard of living.

“It will be a case of being in a three-bedroomed house or going without food.

“We want a more in-depth look, taking into consequence what will happen in 2013.

“We’ve asked for deferment till after Christmas and a further report.”

As well as the changes to benefits, the Government is also changing the way councils finance their own social housing, replacing the current centralised system which redistributes money to areas where demand outstrips resources to one which allows councils to keep and manage their own rental income.

However, the report warns that this means no more borrowing until debts are paid off and “no more funding for Housing Revenue Accounts in the forseeable future, if ever.” If three blocks are retained the housing revenue account could go into deficit in 2017-2018. It says: “It appears that the only affordable option as set out in the report is to proceed with the demolition.”

The seven remaining blocks include Homethorpe, which is nearly empty of tenants and is scheduled for demolition next year, having been earmarked to become “extra care” flats for older people. Milldane is also due to come down by next December.

While there is support for the two sheltered blocks, the majority of residents living in Ashthorpe, Gorthorpe and Highcourt, want them demolishing. Just 13 per cent in Ashthorpe were against demolition.

Opinion split on high-rise blocks

The high-rise blocks have been a feature of the city’s skyline since being built the 1960s but have had “minimal” improvements since then. Those who want the flats to come down cite the cold, damp and cost of heating them, as well as anti-social behaviour. Supporters believe they could be maintained and modernised and don’t want to lose the sense of community they share with their neighbours.