Draft Northern Way calls for focus on clearance

The Northern Way report will call for a large increase in housing demolitions.

Housing Today has seen the draft version of the northern sister of the South-east’s Communities Plan, ahead of the final report’s publication in the autumn.

It makes reference to the 2001 M62 report by the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, which called for up to 400,000 homes to be demolished across the North to clear the way for more desirable housing that will support economic growth.

The draft Northern Way adds that post-transfer associations and arm’s-length management organisations should be encouraged to knock down homes rather than refurbishing them.

“When market conditions warrant, these changes [to funding arrangements] should provide clear financial incentives to facilitate clearance rather than repair to meet decent homes standard and provision should be made to recycle the proceeds from disposals by the regional housing boards,” the report recommends.

It describes the current rate of clearance in market renewal areas as “well below” what is needed.

Current proposals will see 167,000 homes cleared across the North in the next 10 years, according to the Northern Way.

This is just 11% of the 1.5 million properties identified in the M62 report as at risk of low demand.

Councils expressed concern at the prospect of such a major increase in clearance.

Joanne Roney, director of housing at Sheffield council, said: “When we’re talking about areas of low demand, we’ve got to consider supply as well as demand.

“It’s not just about demolitions, it’s not just about decent homes, but about providing the right homes for people in the right communities.”

Greg Stone, executive member for regeneration at Newcastle council, said: “I have misgivings continued on page 8 about an overemphasis on demolition of declining areas and on higher-value private development. It sounds great for professionals commuting from executive houses to high-paid jobs in the knowledge economy, but it will not necessarily improve quality of life for the least well-off and most vulnerable.”

The draft will be circulated to the Northern Way steering group, headed by regional development agency One North East, next Friday. One North East declined to comment, but said the strategy was still a work in progress.

• The report is also set to cause controversy by focusing development and investment on eight “city regions”: Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle, Hull, the Tees Valley, and the east Lancashire towns of Preston, Blackburn and Burnley.

Senior housing professionals in Yorkshire & Humberside wrote to the steering group this week asking for it to recognise the needs of places outside these areas.