Family and Guinness housing associations have called for guarantees from Manchester council to protect their tenants after plans were announced to demolish more than 40 social housing properties.
Family’s 23 homes and 20 homes belonging to Guinness in Beswick, Manchester, face demolition after urban regeneration company New East Manchester said the homes would need to be pulled down to make way for a new school.
The 900-pupil school is part of a wider regeneration programme that will build 1000 homes in Beswick over the next 10 years. The school plans were extended when the Department for Education and Skills said that it would need a larger play area.
Hillary Roberts, director of development for Family, said: “We acknowledge the need for a new school. We are negotiating with the council to provide replacement properties for our tenants.”
Simon Dow, chief executive of the Guinness Trust, said: “If the council puts forward a good legal case for demolition and makes provision for suitable accommodation for our tenants and adequate compensation, then we won’t necessarily want to stand in their way.”
A spokeswoman for New East Manchester said: “The area needs a school and we are asking local residents for feedback. We are not simply telling them that their homes will be knocked down.”
Source
Housing Today
