This is the link to the report on the Church Road Masterplan of the Director of Housing to the meeting of the Wirral Council Housing Select Ctte.
http://www.wirral.gov.uk/minute/public/hcsreg050726rep7_16972.pdf
you will need Adobe Reader to view this - if not - go to the adobe.com site and download it.
James Kay
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
TRACE meeting 20th July
A well attended meeting at the Scout Hall on Church Road on the 20th of July backed a campaign to resist compulsory purchase and demolition.
Although TRACE was very supportive of the Council project to improve Church Road they were also opposed to anyone being forced out of their home and argued instead for a renovation option to be built into the Council's Plans.
A petition was started and would be taken to the forcoming Housing Select Committee meeting at Wallasey Town Hall on the 26th of July at 6.15pm. The wording of the petition was as follows:
Petition - Housing Market Renewal in Tranmere
Demolition of People’s Homes Not the Only Option
We the undersigned support the regeneration of Tranmere’s Church Road but do not support the compulsory demolition of homes in the streets behind.
We call on Wirral Council:
- to continue with the improvement planning
- to support residents who want to stay in their own homes and improve them
- Don’t make demolition the only option - for homes in the target streets behind Church Road
For more information leave a comment here
The latest demolish list of houses July 20th 2005
Here are some photos - taken today the 20th of July - that the latest plan from the local authority has being demolished in their so-called "Housing Market Renewal Initiative.
According to their "Director of Regeneration" in a document submitted to Wirral Council's Housing and Community Safety Select Ctte, these houses were amongst the worst of 119 houses most of which they had previously described as "unfit for human habitation" having failed to meet the 1985 Housing Act conditions.
First the odd numbers in the range of 1 to 17 Seymour Street that I live on. This street and row of houses has some privately owned and well looked after and others that are not well looked after. Most of the ones that are not well looked after are rented from smaller private landlords.
62% of properties in this area are privately owned with the rest mainly owned by private landlords rather than by housing associations as in other parts of Wirral.
And now some from Thompson Street. These lovely big houses have south facing gardens, some are three storey and they have owners who are justifiably proud of their homes.
According to their "Director of Regeneration" in a document submitted to Wirral Council's Housing and Community Safety Select Ctte, these houses were amongst the worst of 119 houses most of which they had previously described as "unfit for human habitation" having failed to meet the 1985 Housing Act conditions.
First the odd numbers in the range of 1 to 17 Seymour Street that I live on. This street and row of houses has some privately owned and well looked after and others that are not well looked after. Most of the ones that are not well looked after are rented from smaller private landlords.
62% of properties in this area are privately owned with the rest mainly owned by private landlords rather than by housing associations as in other parts of Wirral.
And now some from Thompson Street. These lovely big houses have south facing gardens, some are three storey and they have owners who are justifiably proud of their homes.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Minutes from residents meeting 9th May 2005
Seymour Street Area Residents Association Meeting
Monday 23rd 7.30 Tranmere Community Project - all welcome
Please come along and make your voice heard. The notes of the last meeting on the 9th of May are below. There is also information about the issues to be talked about at the next meeting.
Notes of the meeting on the 9th of May at the Community Project
27 people attended from Seymour Street, Thompson Street, Frodsham Street and Warrington Street. Councillor George Davies, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Crime Reduction for Wirral Borough Council also came and spoke at the meeting.
Residents spoke one after the other to Councillor Davies about their experiences living in the area. Most had lived in the area for 10 years or more and some for more than 30 years. Everyone said that they wanted to stay in the area and did not want their homes to be knocked down. Many people said that some homes might need money spent to bring them up to a good standard but many owners had already improved their homes and no further work was needed.
All agreed that the biggest problems in the area were social problems and not housing.
Councillor Davies said that what he was hearing was news to him. He had been led to believe that people in the area were behind the scheme. He did not realise that so many people were opposed to the clearances. He promised to take what he had heard back and discuss it with the Director of Housing “straight away”. He also said that the decision by the Wirral Cabinet on what to do about the proposals for Higher Tranmere had not yet been made. He said that the Cabinet would be discussing proposals from its advisors at a meeting in June after which he expected a decision would be made. Many people in the meeting told him that there had been delay after delay in getting information back to them about the scheme. They kept getting letters saying that the decision would be made ‘next month’ and this had gone on for over a year now. Councillor Davies made a pledge that one way or another he would make sure the decision was given to the residents in the area by November at the latest. Many residents were not happy with this late date for information.
The Chairman then summarised the views of the meeting by telling Councillor Davies that residents in the area supported the idea of spending new money on improvements where they were needed but that the proposals for demolition in Seymour Street, Frodsham Street, Warrington Street and Thompson Street were rejected. Many residents had said that they would fight the proposals all the way if they had to. The meeting then thanked the Councillor for coming down to listen to them and said they would look forward to hearing what was to happen next.
[further note] one week after the meeting a programme on Granada television “Tonight” described a very similar clearance scheme in Liverpool which was opposed by local residents – even though the houses affected were in much worse repair than those in Higher Tranmere. A copy of this programme has been taken and is available to borrow for those who want to see it. A second part of this “Tonight” programme called “New Homes for Old?” is to be broadcast on Friday evening at 8pm
Policing in the Area
The meeting then went on to talk about crime, vandalism and policing in the area. Inspector Martin Andrews who heads up the local community policing team had sent his apologies being double booked but he did promise to make it along to the next meeting (on the 23rd of May). Carole and Liz our two police Community Support Officers were at the meeting and took questions and points for discussion from the meeting. Many residents talked about problems with large groups of young people on the street last summer. Some people talked about drugs being openly used behind the houses in Seymour Street and others talked about a drug dealing operation on Church Street, which had been closed by a police raid and then opened up again within a few days. Others talked about problems with young people playing football on the street, others about cars and vans parking on pavements making it difficult for mothers with wheelchairs to get past.
Carol and Liz said they had heard many people saying that there had been problems in the past getting a satisfactory response from the police to deal with problems such as these. They said that more resources were now being devoted to this area and that they believed that things would improve. They gave the Merseyside police incident control room number out which was 0151 777 2080. This service was staffed 24 hours a day and was the number to use for all except police emergencies when 999 should be used. They explained that the response would vary depending on the incident reported and the time and workload – late Friday and Saturday night were always difficult times for them as they were always overstretched. They also said that local residents could also call the Well Lane Police Station to ask for Liz and Carol to call round when they were next on duty. Phone 0151 709 6010 and ask for Well Lane Police Station.
The Agenda for the next meeting
The meeting on the 23rd of May at 7.30pm will deal with any issues raised by residents and also the following:
§ Inspector Martin Andrews will talk about his new neighbourhood team – how it will work and how it can help the local community to deal with local crime and vandalism.
§ James Kay will report back on discussions with Tranmere Alliance about football and other facilities for young people in the area.
§ There will be a discussion about a constitution for the group including agreement about its name and aims. A draft constitution will be available for discussion and a new committee will be formed. The constitution is necessary if we are to get funds to print leaflets, book halls for meetings etc and to help us with our work.
§ Hopefully a committee will be formed to represent the group in between meetings of all the residents in the area.
For more information contact James Kay on
0151 647 1903 or 07976 839 054 or
email Seymour.residents@ntlworld.com
Monday 23rd 7.30 Tranmere Community Project - all welcome
Please come along and make your voice heard. The notes of the last meeting on the 9th of May are below. There is also information about the issues to be talked about at the next meeting.
Notes of the meeting on the 9th of May at the Community Project
27 people attended from Seymour Street, Thompson Street, Frodsham Street and Warrington Street. Councillor George Davies, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Crime Reduction for Wirral Borough Council also came and spoke at the meeting.
Residents spoke one after the other to Councillor Davies about their experiences living in the area. Most had lived in the area for 10 years or more and some for more than 30 years. Everyone said that they wanted to stay in the area and did not want their homes to be knocked down. Many people said that some homes might need money spent to bring them up to a good standard but many owners had already improved their homes and no further work was needed.
All agreed that the biggest problems in the area were social problems and not housing.
Councillor Davies said that what he was hearing was news to him. He had been led to believe that people in the area were behind the scheme. He did not realise that so many people were opposed to the clearances. He promised to take what he had heard back and discuss it with the Director of Housing “straight away”. He also said that the decision by the Wirral Cabinet on what to do about the proposals for Higher Tranmere had not yet been made. He said that the Cabinet would be discussing proposals from its advisors at a meeting in June after which he expected a decision would be made. Many people in the meeting told him that there had been delay after delay in getting information back to them about the scheme. They kept getting letters saying that the decision would be made ‘next month’ and this had gone on for over a year now. Councillor Davies made a pledge that one way or another he would make sure the decision was given to the residents in the area by November at the latest. Many residents were not happy with this late date for information.
The Chairman then summarised the views of the meeting by telling Councillor Davies that residents in the area supported the idea of spending new money on improvements where they were needed but that the proposals for demolition in Seymour Street, Frodsham Street, Warrington Street and Thompson Street were rejected. Many residents had said that they would fight the proposals all the way if they had to. The meeting then thanked the Councillor for coming down to listen to them and said they would look forward to hearing what was to happen next.
[further note] one week after the meeting a programme on Granada television “Tonight” described a very similar clearance scheme in Liverpool which was opposed by local residents – even though the houses affected were in much worse repair than those in Higher Tranmere. A copy of this programme has been taken and is available to borrow for those who want to see it. A second part of this “Tonight” programme called “New Homes for Old?” is to be broadcast on Friday evening at 8pm
Policing in the Area
The meeting then went on to talk about crime, vandalism and policing in the area. Inspector Martin Andrews who heads up the local community policing team had sent his apologies being double booked but he did promise to make it along to the next meeting (on the 23rd of May). Carole and Liz our two police Community Support Officers were at the meeting and took questions and points for discussion from the meeting. Many residents talked about problems with large groups of young people on the street last summer. Some people talked about drugs being openly used behind the houses in Seymour Street and others talked about a drug dealing operation on Church Street, which had been closed by a police raid and then opened up again within a few days. Others talked about problems with young people playing football on the street, others about cars and vans parking on pavements making it difficult for mothers with wheelchairs to get past.
Carol and Liz said they had heard many people saying that there had been problems in the past getting a satisfactory response from the police to deal with problems such as these. They said that more resources were now being devoted to this area and that they believed that things would improve. They gave the Merseyside police incident control room number out which was 0151 777 2080. This service was staffed 24 hours a day and was the number to use for all except police emergencies when 999 should be used. They explained that the response would vary depending on the incident reported and the time and workload – late Friday and Saturday night were always difficult times for them as they were always overstretched. They also said that local residents could also call the Well Lane Police Station to ask for Liz and Carol to call round when they were next on duty. Phone 0151 709 6010 and ask for Well Lane Police Station.
The Agenda for the next meeting
The meeting on the 23rd of May at 7.30pm will deal with any issues raised by residents and also the following:
§ Inspector Martin Andrews will talk about his new neighbourhood team – how it will work and how it can help the local community to deal with local crime and vandalism.
§ James Kay will report back on discussions with Tranmere Alliance about football and other facilities for young people in the area.
§ There will be a discussion about a constitution for the group including agreement about its name and aims. A draft constitution will be available for discussion and a new committee will be formed. The constitution is necessary if we are to get funds to print leaflets, book halls for meetings etc and to help us with our work.
§ Hopefully a committee will be formed to represent the group in between meetings of all the residents in the area.
For more information contact James Kay on
0151 647 1903 or 07976 839 054 or
email Seymour.residents@ntlworld.com
Houses in Tranmere in the HMRI area
These are some of the threatened streets - not all of these are in the latest knockdown plans but several are.
Here is a selection of photgraphs of some of the streets threatened with demolition under the HMRI. TRACE is supporting residents who want to stay and instead renovate their property.
a recent email from TRACE to the Council
This email was sent by me today to the local authority's lead officer for the HMRI.
David Ball
Head of Housing and Regeneration
Wirral MBC
15th July 2005
Dear David
This is just a note to thank you for taking time with me yesterday. I did go back with my partner Caroline and spent more time at the exhibition. I managed to get some time with the developer. I also spoke to several members of TRACE who had visited the exhibition and we are planning a more formal get together over the next few days.
I recall from our discussions yesterday that key dates will be the Select Committee meeting on the 26th of July and the Cabinet meeting on the 3rd of August. I understand that a report will be made by your team to these meetings which will be designed to produce an agreed strategy to take forward the HMRI. I would like TRACE to have the opportunity to put a short paper to both of those meetings to represent our position and also to have the opportunity to speak to that paper at the meetings. Am I right in assuming that this will be at 6.15pm?
I have also noticed from minute 3 of the June Select Committee Meeting that the SIIF document for Wirral (which has been submitted to ODPM) sets out inter alia, the rational for HMRI in Church Road. Could I have a copy of that document please?
I have also assumed that there is somewhere a business plan (or is that the SIIF document?) which sets out the business case for the specific strategy envisioned for Church Road with budgets and forecasts. From my discussions with the developer yesterday I understand that the deal once confirmed will hand over development and sale of the properties on site after rebuilding - to them. I also understand that the brief so far from the Council to the developer has been exclusively concerned with demolition and rebuild rather than renovation of individual properties being kept alive as an option. Again I assume that the renovation option (which is the preferred one for TRACE) was explored and then discarded after an economic argument had been presented. Can I have sight of these documents please? If no such documents exist and the renovation option has not been explored and rejected on the basis of evidence then you will not be surprised to hear that TRACE thinks such an appriasal should be made as a matter of urgency.
At the risk of being overly pompous I have taken the liberty of digging out a definition of 'groupthink' which I argued to you yesterday was a danger in situations such as these. I think there may be gathering evidence that groupthink has driven at least some of the commitment to HMRI from the ODPM downwards, in the face of rising opposition from the grassroots to many of its implications. I have included the definition below and also a list of key symptoms of groupthink - some of which may be argued to apply here - particularly if there has been insufficient attention to risk assessment and to the investigation of alternatives to demolition.
================================================
Groupthink is a term coined by psychologist Irving Janis in 1972 to describe a process by which a group can make bad or irrational decisions. In a groupthink situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group. In a general sense this seems to be a very rationalistic way to approach the situation. However this results in a situation in which the group ultimately agrees upon an action which each member might individually consider to be unwise (the risky shift). Janis' original definition of the term was "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." ... Groupthink tends to occur on committees and in large organizations. Janis originally studied the Pearl Harbor bombing, the Vietnam War and the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Others have cited groupthink as a contributing factor in the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster as well as the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the bankruptcy of Enron, and more recently, the decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003.
... the seven symptoms of decision affected by groupthink are:
Incomplete survey of alternatives
Incomplete survey of objectives
Failure to examine risks of preferred choice
Failure to re-appraise initially rejected alternatives
Poor information search
Selective bias in processing information at hand (see also confirmation bias)
Failure to work out contingency plans
(definition from wikipedia - the on line dictionary)
====================================================================
Finally I should say in advance of the TRACE paper and speaking personally, that I think there is very much that is exciting and to be welcomed in the Church Road regeneration plan. There is enthusiasm here I would judge for the work that is needed on the frontage and commercial property. Our problem is with the specifics of what has been proposed for the housing behind Church Road. We will return to this once I have had the chance to consult the group more carefully on their responses to yesterday.
from ...
James Kay
Chairman
Tranmere Residents Association (Church Rd East) TRACE
21 Seymour Street Birkenhead CH42 5LG email jameslkay@ntlworld.com
0151 647 1903
07976 839 054
David Ball
Head of Housing and Regeneration
Wirral MBC
15th July 2005
Dear David
This is just a note to thank you for taking time with me yesterday. I did go back with my partner Caroline and spent more time at the exhibition. I managed to get some time with the developer. I also spoke to several members of TRACE who had visited the exhibition and we are planning a more formal get together over the next few days.
I recall from our discussions yesterday that key dates will be the Select Committee meeting on the 26th of July and the Cabinet meeting on the 3rd of August. I understand that a report will be made by your team to these meetings which will be designed to produce an agreed strategy to take forward the HMRI. I would like TRACE to have the opportunity to put a short paper to both of those meetings to represent our position and also to have the opportunity to speak to that paper at the meetings. Am I right in assuming that this will be at 6.15pm?
I have also noticed from minute 3 of the June Select Committee Meeting that the SIIF document for Wirral (which has been submitted to ODPM) sets out inter alia, the rational for HMRI in Church Road. Could I have a copy of that document please?
I have also assumed that there is somewhere a business plan (or is that the SIIF document?) which sets out the business case for the specific strategy envisioned for Church Road with budgets and forecasts. From my discussions with the developer yesterday I understand that the deal once confirmed will hand over development and sale of the properties on site after rebuilding - to them. I also understand that the brief so far from the Council to the developer has been exclusively concerned with demolition and rebuild rather than renovation of individual properties being kept alive as an option. Again I assume that the renovation option (which is the preferred one for TRACE) was explored and then discarded after an economic argument had been presented. Can I have sight of these documents please? If no such documents exist and the renovation option has not been explored and rejected on the basis of evidence then you will not be surprised to hear that TRACE thinks such an appriasal should be made as a matter of urgency.
At the risk of being overly pompous I have taken the liberty of digging out a definition of 'groupthink' which I argued to you yesterday was a danger in situations such as these. I think there may be gathering evidence that groupthink has driven at least some of the commitment to HMRI from the ODPM downwards, in the face of rising opposition from the grassroots to many of its implications. I have included the definition below and also a list of key symptoms of groupthink - some of which may be argued to apply here - particularly if there has been insufficient attention to risk assessment and to the investigation of alternatives to demolition.
================================================
Groupthink is a term coined by psychologist Irving Janis in 1972 to describe a process by which a group can make bad or irrational decisions. In a groupthink situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group. In a general sense this seems to be a very rationalistic way to approach the situation. However this results in a situation in which the group ultimately agrees upon an action which each member might individually consider to be unwise (the risky shift). Janis' original definition of the term was "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." ... Groupthink tends to occur on committees and in large organizations. Janis originally studied the Pearl Harbor bombing, the Vietnam War and the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Others have cited groupthink as a contributing factor in the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster as well as the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the bankruptcy of Enron, and more recently, the decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003.
... the seven symptoms of decision affected by groupthink are:
Incomplete survey of alternatives
Incomplete survey of objectives
Failure to examine risks of preferred choice
Failure to re-appraise initially rejected alternatives
Poor information search
Selective bias in processing information at hand (see also confirmation bias)
Failure to work out contingency plans
(definition from wikipedia - the on line dictionary)
====================================================================
Finally I should say in advance of the TRACE paper and speaking personally, that I think there is very much that is exciting and to be welcomed in the Church Road regeneration plan. There is enthusiasm here I would judge for the work that is needed on the frontage and commercial property. Our problem is with the specifics of what has been proposed for the housing behind Church Road. We will return to this once I have had the chance to consult the group more carefully on their responses to yesterday.
from ...
James Kay
Chairman
Tranmere Residents Association (Church Rd East) TRACE
21 Seymour Street Birkenhead CH42 5LG email jameslkay@ntlworld.com
0151 647 1903
07976 839 054
Welcome
This is a first blog - created on July 15th 2005. I have included some background from my own blog as a starter but my aim is to include key documents which local residents should be able to see for themselves. It also includes the leaflets that we have posted and other correspondence and emails plus some photgraphs.
A first photograph will be one of a the demolition of a multistorey housing block at the end of my street.
This block has now been removed and the site made flat but as yet there are no signs of rebuilding on the site.
Further photographs will show some of the properties in our streets - some of which are threatened with demolition.
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