Housing group pledges £10m extra for estate improvements

Riverside, which took control of 1,184 homes on North Bransholme from Hull Council last November, has so far spent £5m bringing 562 properties up the decent homes standard, a Government rating which requires homes to be modern, warm and weatherproof.

When it took over management of the estate, Riverside agreed with the city council an investment plan to renovate more than 140 boarded up properties - some of which had been empty for 15 years – which became a magnet for anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

Riverside’s operations manager Carl Mitchell said: “The estate was originally built in the 1970s following earlier slum clearance programmes and post war housing need. By the 1990s it suffered low demand and growing number of properties were boarded up. A large investment was needed in the area, which is ranked in the top 10 per cent nationally for multiple deprivation.

“The estate narrowly missed out on housing market renewal pathfinder funding; some residents, understandably, had started to lose faith. So when we came along promising to transform lives and revitalise the neighbourhood, we needed to quickly make an impact in the area and the results so far speak for themselves. We have achieved so much within our first year that we hope we have started to change lives.”