Fight to save estate flats as town hall plans £1.8m cuts

COUNCILLORS are fighting to save two of the multi-storey flats on a Hull estate from the bulldozers, despite a new report which says the remaining blocks must come down to balance the books.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Jun 2012, 07:00 BST

Hull Council officials say knocking down the four, Gorthorpe, Kinthorpe, Laxthorpe and Highcourt, on Orchard Park estate, would place least pressure on the council’s housing finances, where savings of £1.8m per year are needed.

But councillors say there has to be “a future” for the area and expect demand for one-bedroomed flats to soar because of changes to housing benefit.

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They want to see a mixture of demolition and refurbishment as well as around 200 new flats built, half of which would have one-bedroom.

Housing portfolio holder Coun John Black said: “As portfolio holder, supported 100 per cent by the ward councillors are going to argue a strong case that at least two blocks should be retained. I think it demonstrates that the council sees a future for Orchard Park, it wants Orchard Park to thrive, that we don’t want to just demolish, we want to rebuild and see a thriving community and want to see people having the opportunity to remain in their local area.”

Coun Steve Bayes said they were expecting 1,000 people to move into the city from the East Riding where rental costs are higher from next April. He said: “The whole of North Hull would go from being the highest provider of single accommodation to the smallest.

“If a family splits up you don’t want to have one of the parents having to move from Longhill to North Bransholme; you want to keep families as close together as possible and not having single person accommodation is a significant disbenefit.”

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Just over half of the flats in the four blocks under review, Gorthorpe, Kinthorpe, Laxthorpe and Highcourt, are occupied.

The council reports accepts that demand is likely to rise as a result of changes to the housing benefits limiting single people under 35 to a single room rate.

However it states: “Clearly the retention of some of the flats or replacement with new build in Orchard Park would serve to address this demand, but this cannot be applied at the expense of the long term sustainability of the housing revenue account.”

Related topics:CouncillorsHullEast Riding