Residents living on a derelict estate will soon have 61 homes demolished around them.
Phill Campbell and husband and wife Abu and Noorjahn Jaigirdar, own their homes on Union Street in St Helens, Liverpool, which forms part of the Gerard Bridge estate.
Phill, 71, has lived there for the last 19 years, while Noorjahn, 66, and Abu, 82, moved there in 1988 from the Isle of Man.
Homeowners claimed when they first moved to Union Street it was home to a nice community including old fashioned neighbours they could rely on.
But they will soon be living in the middle of a demolition site after all of their neighbours were moved out, reported Liverpool Echo.
In 2019, housing association Torus suggested their proposal to demolish 61 homes on the estate amid concerns about the “future sustainability” of the properties and “wider environmental issues.”
Since then, Torus has rehoused all of its tenants, leaving Phill and Mr and Mrs Jaigirdar living in the middle of a derelict estate. They are both yet to reach an agreement with Torus to buy their homes and don’t know what the future holds.
Both homeowners said they have not had any official confirmation from Torus about the demolition moving forward or when this is expected to take place.
Torus said it will be progressing with partial demolition of the site and hopes the work will start later this month.
Phill, 71, said: “This site has been derelict now for over two years. It’s rat infested, the properties are crumbling and I am living on my own in the middle of it all, and I don’t know what is going to happen to me. I don’t have any family, I’m on my own. There’s no one to look after me.
“There’s no one’s home I can go to to get away from it. I have to go to libraries, and leisure centres and coffee shops. I shouldn’t have to be living my life that way that my home is the last place I want to be. It’s a huge estate with empty properties which are not housing people.”
Residents were asked to vote on the plans to demolish 61 houses on Union Street, College Street, Crab Street and Fox Place in July 2019, with 78 per cent of those that voted backing the demolition. Torus said at the time that the final decision to demolish the properties was made “following meaningful and extensive consultation with residents.”
A spokesperson for Torus said: “I would like to confirm that Torus have not closed the door on purchasing the properties in the future if a reasonable agreement can be reached.”
The housing provider told the ECHO last year it could not move forward with any regeneration plans until all the residents have moved out as “partial demolition is not an option due to utility supplies and prioritising people’s safety and wellbeing.”
However, when approached this week, Torus said: “Unfortunately, we have not been able to reach an agreement with the homeowners and we will be progressing with the partial demolition of the site. We are working with Cadent to install a new gas main to keep the two properties connected to the gas supply and will be looking to start demolition once this has been resolved and subject to renewed planning permissions. We hope to start later this month.”
A St Helens Borough Council spokesperson said: “We have been reviewing issues in this area but while there have been a handful of issues reported across the wider area with fly tipping and rats there has been no wider concerns that have prompted the need for enhanced measures to deal with these environmental issues. If residents do have concerns over such issues we would always encourage them to contact us and can report online at www.sthelens.gov.uk.
“St Helens Borough Council Housing Officers continue to meet with Torus staff regarding the issues within this area and continue to highlight the need to move on with their plans for this area. We are aware that the delay with any development here, is due to ongoing discussions with existing householders.”
