Demolition for more old houses as city plans 670 new homes

Hull Council aims to obtain the funding from the Government's Private Finance Initiative and is currently in the process of drawing up a bid.

As reported by the Yorkshire Post last year, the Hull estate has been awarded 156m of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding by Ministers.

However, the layout of the new homes has changed after residents turned out in force to have their say on the future of their community, councillors will be told on Tuesday July 20. When the plans were first drawn up two years ago the proposal included 1,700 new homes – both for letting by social landlords and private sales – and the demolition of 1,040 properties within a five-year period to be funded primarily through the PFI route.

The possibility of an extra-care scheme of up to 80 new homes was put forward, to be developed as part of a separate PFI bid, as well as the demolition of low demand multi-storey properties to be carried out by the council. To prepare a firm business case, public consultations were carried out between February and March this year after a newsletter outlining the proposals was sent to all Orchard Park residents.

A dozen public events held in the area were attended by nearly 500 people. Two options were on the table one involving wide spread demolition, allowing the council to create a new street pattern and completely transform the area.

Residents liked the idea but there were concerns about keeping the community together in the face of such wide-spread disruption. Another option was much more limited bulldozing to give the area a lift without tearing neighbourhoods apart. In response to the views, council chiefs have drawn up a new preferred option. It involves constructing 500 new build social units funded via PFI credits which would be built within the Danes and Thorpes, and around 170 private sale units.

To make way for the new homes 355 houses would be demolished through a phased programme, with some new build first to help the relocation of residents. Officials say the timetable would be to start on site in 2013, and finish the scheme completely in five years.

But City Planning Manager Alex Codd underlined the much more widespread regeneration, which most residents are still hankering after, would be achieved through a longer strategy, to be discussed with residents over summer.

He added: "The PFI process has the potential to bring significant funding to start a large scale regeneration of Orchard Park.

"Residents and stakeholders are being involved in the early stages of the masterplanning process. An Orchard Park-wide area action plan would have the benefit to pull together the PFI exercise and the other regeneration projects in Orchard Park and sustain a large scale transformation in the longer term. The public-private partnership, a robust engagement approach, and the rigorous statutory planning requirements would ensure the plan is sound and deliverable."

The Orchard Park Estate in Hull was originally planned in the late 1930s, complete with parks, cinema and air raid shelters. By the time construction started in the 1960s, much of the vision had melted away, but the development was built pre-wired with a TV system courtesy of Hull's Rediffusion.

However, by the early 1970s the estate was gaining a reputation as a "hard to let" area. As flats fell empty, Hull Council blew up some of the tower blocks – consigning the "homes of the future" to rubble.