Cleator Moor
We believe that regeneration could make a real difference to our customers by providing quality homes, promoting social cohesion, wellbeing and self-dependence. We’re committed to working with customers, local communities and stakeholders to make sure these proposals meet customer and community needs.
Why is regeneration being considered?
We’re at the early stage of consulting and are not considering full demolition of the entire estate. But we’d like to look at what options are available. Refurbishment is one of the options that could address problems, such as homes beyond their design life making them expensive to maintain. Or the current mix of homes that don’t meet community needs (for example, there are currently no bungalows and many homes are under-occupied or overcrowded).
We want to provide homes that better suit the needs of you, your family and the wider community.
What are the aims of the proposed regeneration?
We are over 12 months into our engagement with the community and we have had lots of great feedback from residents on what they feel is needed to improve the estates. One of the most popular suggestions was to build new homes on the cleared land on Keir Hardie Avenue. These plans have been developed, a public exhibition was held for the community in January 2019 and we received planning permission in August 2019.
An estate-wide plan for the remainder of the estate is currently being drawn up based on the feedback we have received from the community and we are aiming to present this plan to residents in the coming months.
Isn’t demolition of the entire estate a waste of money? Surely the current homes can be refurbished and the estate repaired without demolishing it?
We are not considering full demolition of the entire estate. We have been working with the community since January 2018 to identify the best options to improve and redevelop the estate and to address the most common problems residents have with their current home. Refurbishment is one of the options that we are looking into from the feedback we have received from our engagement with the community.
How can Home Group build new homes if you are not going to demolish?
If the community decision is against demolition then we will focus on building on land at Wath Brow. If you decide selective demolition is the right approach, we’ll have more scope for new homes which meet the needs of the community.
What’s wrong with the current properties and the estate?
We know that there are a number of challenges with housing on Cleator Moor. In 2018, 25 properties became empty and we have around 16 that are difficult to let. This could be because there are too many houses or the wrong size or type. For example, we have too many three bedroom houses and not enough people needing them. And having homes empty can lead to an increase in vandalism and anti social behaviour.
Some of the homes have structural problems, mainly because of the way they were constructed. They’re poor insulated and ventilated making them expensive to heat and creating condensation and damp issues for customers.
Many of the properties are close together making parking a challenge. The publish spaces are poorly designed and the links to the wider area aren’t good.
The properties have become difficult to maintain and we would need to spend £9.6 million on planned maintenance over the next 30 years to maintain the properties.