Eddie has lived on Tennyson Street for 5 years and told us why he's against Ray Mallon's plans to buy out tenants and demolish their homes in the name of regeneration.
The offending headline
"I’m a widower and have lived here for 5 years, and I think it’s dreadful that the Mayor has used the word 'cancer' to refer to these houses.
"When my wife died from cancer in 1999 I lived in a large house in Coulby Newham, where I was very lonely.
"I moved here, as near to Linthorpe Road as possible, as I wanted to live in a busy community and thought that it would be something to leave my children, never dreaming there would be compulsory purchase in the pipeline.
"These houses have stood through 2 world wars and I think they could stand for another 50 years.
"I first heard about the council’s plans in April in an Evening Gazette article which said that the council were planning the demolition of 3,000 terraced houses somewhere in town.
"Ray Mallon said that “the heart of the community would remain” and then on July 12th, we were given a hitlist of streets that were to be demolished and my street, Tennyson Street, was listed for full demolition.
"I wanted to protest against this so I went on Radio Cleveland, wrote lots of letters to the Gazette, have been to many public meetings.
"Yesterday there was a march to the Town Hall on the day the decision was ratified (it was ratified very quickly), and it was mentioned in the meeting afterwards that people round here haven’t been properly consulted before the council made its decision.
"I don’t want to be pushed out to the extremities of the borough after being happy to be at heart of it for 5 years"
"There were between 200-300 people who marched, but it was held when many protesters were at work, so I would say there is at least double that number who are really upset, then there are others who don’t want it but aren’t active.
"Not everyone is against the scheme and there are obviously people who see this as their chance to get up the property ladder, but these houses serve the purpose of giving people a home in the first years of their marriage.
"It’s a good community here and I’ve got good neighbours, which counts for a lot and I’ve made a lot of new friends and for a widower it’s ideal, as you feel there are people around you and you don’t feel so lonely.
"I’m also within walking distance of shops, the football club, the train station, I don’t have to worry about drink driving when I go out and when I get really old, I won’t be able to have a car, but I can do without it living in this area.
"We've now been told that the plan is to demolish 1,500 houses and re-build 750, but we’ve had no personal contact with council people coming to the door.
"Because of my protesting, I’ve been given time with Tim White, Head of Regeneration for Middlesbrough Council, who is a gentleman and I can see what he’s trying to do.
Eddie outside his house
"Tim says they won’t get millions of pounds of government funding if there isn’t an element of demolition and they admit that some good houses will get demolished.
"At the latest meeting, Ken Walker (Gresham ward councillor) said there is no Government permission for large scale demolitions, and that people like John Prescott have come round to thinking this is wrong as it destroys communities.
"People who have lived here all their lives may be pushed out as far as Hemlington, and I don’t want to be pushed out to the extremities of the borough after being happy to be at heart of it for 5 years.
"Most people want the area to improve but don’t want done at the cost of old age pensioners and low income families who will be forced into financial insecurity.
"The big worry is that say I got £50,000 for this house, in order to pay for a £100,000 house, like ones built on the grounds of Ayresome Park, I’d need a £50,000 mortgage.
"Tim White has said he doesn'trule out part-rent part-buy, but people who’ve paid off their mortgage don’t want the worry of rent.
"The hidden factor in all of this is council tax – It is going to rise horrendously after the forthcoming re-evaluation, and people who move will be pushed into higher bands, people who can barely afford their tax where the live now.
"Personally, there is no way I can put this house on the market now with the hope of getting anything like its proper price.
A neighbour's message
"Imagine yourself as the buyer – ‘ooh I’m going to buy this but I don’t know if it’s going to be knocked down.’ Who wants to buy into that situation or that uncertainty?
"The people round here who are protesting come from different cultures, different political backgrounds and it’s lovely to see everyone pulling together.
"We have a great community here and it will be destroyed if the council gets the government money to do this.
"No one is against renovation, we all want the area to be improved, but not by demolishing our neighbourhood, at the expense of a good community."
Your comments:
A different John No one wants to get rid of a community, but old terrace houses like the whole network behind Linthorpe Road need knocking down. Rat runs like that look old, horrible, uninviting and are a haven for criminals of all sorts. If it was up to people against regeneration of Middlesbrough like this, the town would eventually just rot down to nothing but derelict houses full of squatters and drug users... a bit like the area round St. Hilda's now in fact. Good for Ray Malllon for actually having a vision to raise Middlesbrough out of the pit it seemed destined to become.
oggy Ray Mallon has a nerve saying this community has a "cancer". The great majority of people who live here are the salt of the earth. I hope the people who voted him in are regretting it now.
natalie i think it is disgusting, they are knocking to many houses down without the thought of other people i have 2 children and still at home with my parents !!! i cant be rehoused due to the demolition! this is suppose 2 be acommunity where "people are happy to live, work and raise their families how can it be if people are been moved away !!
aaron craig dont knock the houses down
Poundshopper demolishing these homes won't make any difference to Middlesbrough but it will generate extra income for the council. If they really want to cut out the cancer they could start by getting rid of the chemical works that pollute the town. Everyone laughed when Hartlepool elected a Monkey as their Mayor but I think they did better than us.
John john its a rat hole,and its best knocked down I guess your not from Middlesbrough then ???? Mallon is a total joke, he has really lost the plot. Its all about money at the end of the day. Middlesbrough centre is not such a bad place to live. If you want somewhere to knock down, then try South Bank
Alexandra I currently live in Folkestone in Kent but i'm a born & bread Stockton/Boro girl & i think Ray Mallon's plans are disgusting! Has the guy ever actualy been inside a new house?! They are the shambles & forcing people to trade their decent homes for them is a disgrace! Middlesbrough belongs to the people who live there, not some big shot's with a get rich quick plan! Those terrace houses arn't his to take away & neither is the history they hold. I'm not saying that Boro is perfect, far from it, something needs to be done about the crime, lack of comunity, drugs & poverty (my Nana still lives there, trust me i'd love nothing more than to see it returned to it's former glory) but Mallon plans to take away any hope of that.
Alan Teeside is a great place to live i moved here from Birmingham in 2001 and i wont go back.The people here are nice and they make you welcome.
chelse its disgraceful! i cant believe they have been so insensitive, but then again it does not suprise me. they are lovely houses and believe they should stay. fight your ground!!
Mark In one of the posts someone refers to the Mayor as a regenerator,He is not, he is a regurgitator of other peoples ideas, and a brilliant self publicist.Who in the days of Bolckow and Vaughan and the giant industrialsits that created Middlesbrough would have ever imagined that a disgraced ex-policeman would become Mayor.Middlesbrough residents are now reaping what they have sown,yes the town needs to move on ,yes it is true that much of the housing stock is in poor condition but regenerating the central areas can be done sympathetically, with regard to peoples individual situations and without the widespread use of CPOs as a blunt instrument to batter the life out of a community.The Mayor ,sadly , just isn't bright enough to understand that but robots are only of limited artificial intelligence aren't they
FORMER RESIDENT I lived in the town center and saw its sad decline.Now on revisiting I get a cruel snapshot of a community in free fall.The problem with cheap housing it that it gets bought by landlords who dont care about chav tenents as long as the DSS pays the rent.This sets off a spiral of decline.Boro aint ever going to be Hamstead-our Victorian houses were built for a time that has gone.I applaud the council for taking this brave step.Presently boro doesent have the economy or the history to gentryfie run down areas.New estates have a problem linked to issues similar to the town-no jobs,community breakdown,etc.The north of England has houses in the wrong places whilst theyd be woth a fortune in here in the south east-its the economy stupid.I remember walking down Princes Rd in 1974 in my oxford bags with Aladin Sane under my arm and not being able to use the phone box as someone had used it as a toilet.The good old days?
marty i have loads of very good memories of that area when i was courting,i met my wife there coming out of the shipmate a bit worse for ware.and the rest is history.
yvonne richardson I can't believe some people think its ok to knock down perfectly good houses, destroying long standing communities inthe process, take away people's chosen roofs from over their heads, just because there's no room for the number of cars, and people feel intimidated in these areas. What? Have you not been to any one of the modern estates - their roads are narower than any I've seen, often with no pavements. what will that do to encourage walking and discourage car ownership which we need to do for our own physical and spiritual wellbeing, as well as that of the planet. new houses are tiny, pokey, poor quality, not solid, made of flimsy materials thrown together. they won't last the 100 years and counting of our terraces. knocking down older houses to stop people feeling intimated will do zilch too; its not the housing causing the intimidation, its some of the people who live in them. if you knock their houses down, they just go and live somewhere else and intimidate another community. so what happens then, knock all those houses down too? there is nothing wrong with older terrace houses if they are maintained - like with all property. i for one despise the poor quality and cramped conditions of new houses and would not want one free. so where do i go if they force me out of my lovely terraced home?
Joyce Glasser The street of Victorian Terraces that Ken Walker is protecting looks, in the photos, looks better than 90% of the streets in London and the design of the houses and scale is what England is known for, a classic and much love style. Good, new modern architecture is needed to replace some buildings, but Prescott doesn't have plans for good modern architecture. Nothing we can build today will serve the inhabitants as well as the existing terrace rows, which look fantastic. What's this mania with destruction of perfectly good homes? Is it to build for buildings sake, just to boost the sagging economy? Does someone have shares in the developers' companies, is there some graft going on? It seems so irrational to want to destroy what is best in our country.
hi kenny from auss I came out to auss in 1965 and those run down houses you are wanting to knock down should be bought and renavated into town houses big bucks,over here the same type house in 1965 was selling for $90.000 now they are selling for $500.000 to $750.000.if they are going cheap you young people should buy and renavate not evacuate,use your loaf think.
the hogan i love the area.the locals are very accomodating.
jezz i love living there.its so warm and social.especially around the shipmate on a night.
john its a rat hole,and its best knocked down
Dave Times have changed; this is not like previous redevelopments! For a start there is no Cleveland County Council, who perhaps failed to provide what they promised. Don't forget there is a demand for quality housing with gardens and a driveway. I am at a stage where I am thinking of buying my first house; I would not even consider the TS1 area as it stands. Also Teesside can not lose all of its countryside to housing developments, redeveloping this part of the town is the logical solution. I would also like to see it happen in other parts of the town centre.
Steve Collins ITS SHOCKING
Gerry Bolton What's up with this old geezer that won't move? Listen, we all know Middlesborough is a pit to live in, and getting worse by the year. These WW2 homes need knocking down and in fact if I was Ray Mallone, I'd knock most of Middlesborough down and start again. If moving into the the 21st century means knocking down a few buildings here and there, I say let's do it. All these old, crumbling houses only attract rag-tats and the like anyways.
Mario Goring Ok,so they are going to knock down your house,take away your freinds and community,and all on Mr Mallons say so,I cant see him without or any other council member without a few bob in his/hers pockets to start another morgage,and do the people whos houses are getting knocked down get first bite of the cherry after there houses are gone and new ones are built,and that should include a good discount for the loss and hassle of it all,I dont think so.
The Voice of Reason People have got to realise that housing does not have an indefinite life span, and times change. With it, town and housing planning has to change. Along with that will come heartache for a few, but most will support positive change. I myself live in terraced housing in Stockton. It is completely unsuitable for modern life! Cars line both sides of the streets, leaving only a single lane for traffic, and causing daily problems and arguments between drivers, both who think the other should give way! Parking is an absolute nightmare, and many people regularly end up parking well away from their properties. One day, they will want to knock my estate down. I'll be sad yes, because it's my home, but I realise that progress has to be made, and all housing has a lifespan!
Dave Mac they knocked down the north end of north ormesby for "progress" destroyed a community, built flats and knocked them down!, all these "officials" should remember its government of the people by the people for the people, not government of the people by the government for the government ( or in this case council) remember WE HAVE THE VOTE use it!
nic mallon does not deserve to be at the fore-front of our community, you may think that he brought drug crime down, and drug use...or whatever he says, but as many of people know...at the end of the day he shouldnt get to decide who can live in their own homes and whos should be knocked down. he will do like he did with the drug dealers of this town, give them promises, take back handers then stab them in the back....boo yaa!
nichola mills to be honest i think its terrible that they want to knock down these houses, there not just buildings, there peoples homes and their lives, and the council or the 'mayor' should not be the ones deciding if they have the right to live in them houses or not. i do agree with bringing middlesbrough up to the top of cities, with regeneration, but is there really any need to knock peoples homes down....!?!?....i think not!!!!!!!
From Darlo What would Ray Mallon be doing if he lived there? It wouldnt be Eddies campaign , it would be Mallons. Why on earth should he be forced to move out when unlike a massive proportion of our society he has founded roots and made plans.
Simon I can fully understand Eddies blight, but times change and Middlesbrough needs to move on. Ian spoke about us having a lack of professional - living in the town, YES! But why, because the town centre is surrounded by run down houses! If there were apartments and a reduced fear of crime then professionals would look at moving into the town centre. I applaud Ray Mallon, he tries his best and can never please anyone. There are always the people who love these houses, the same with St. Hildas, but let's face it, 80% of the council tax payers hate these areas and feel intimidated near them. Middlesbrough has no future if it's Central area is full of run down houses and derelict buildings. They are outdated and should just be demolished now... And as for the people that live in them, the nice ones rehouse, the heroin addicts just kill off, they add nothing to the structure of society.
John The same situation happened quite some time ago with the communities of Neport Road and Cannon street areas of Middlesbrough the council said they would give residents " Fair value price " for their properties and then made it into a slum clearance area and made compulsory purchases so I dont hold much hope for these residents.
Sandy The problem is not the houses, which are good, solid homes. It is the social deprivation, lack of education and no solid role-models, that blights Middlesbrough, not old housing stock. Pulling down peoples homes will not solve the problem. Much more has to be done to help people who have been let down on every level; families that often have three generations of heroin addicts in one family. Regeneration in this manner, is like putting a plaster on a leg that is hanging off. Ray Mallon is more concerened about his legacy, than the people of Middlesbrough.
Dubious & sceptical The only green (and well used) space in the town centre is lost to an art gallery, we are told that our town 'needs' hotels in silly shapes (when the hotels that are already there are rarely full) and now rather than lend people a hand its a case of 'get out before we put you out'. Little wonder people view this area in less than postitive ways when those in charge seem to have their heads well above the clouds.
Mark C We need to regenerate inner cities not just build new houses. Eddie's story breaks my heart. I know if I lost my wife I would want to live in a busy place, with people around me, not stuck out in the sticks. All successful cities have people living close to the centre - and those living around Linthorpe road should be allowed to stay. It's a shame that many of these people probably voted for Mallon to be Mayor - unfortunately a RoboCop can also be a RoboPerson - in other words, unfeeling.
Hannah Terraced houses are essential for anyone trying to get onto the property ladder in a town where even shabby semis and tiny flats are over priced and over subscribed. Renovation not demolition!
stewart Can I congratulate Mr Mallon for having the vision and conviction to improve Middlesbrough town centre. Terraced houses and their unkempt back alleys belong in the past, demolish them now!
Iain Just in response to David Harris, the plans for regeneration at the docklands are of pricy hotels, apartments and office jobs. Whilst the physical appearance of that area is going to be greatly improved; for the majority of Middlesbrough residents it serves no real use. We have a very small proportion of professionals in this town and frequently are placed amongst the 10 most deprived districts in England. For the people of St Hildas and Parliament Road areas what benefits do the docklands regeneration hold? Or for that matter for residnets in St Hildas, Gresham, North Ormesby, Thorntree, Park End, Beechwood, Grove Hill, Hemlington, Brambles Farm, Netherfields, Easterside, Whinney Banks etc? The docklands regeneration is aimed at a minority population, professionals and home-owners, not the majority of our population. While i understand Middlesbrough has a declining population and is not capable of competing on a large scale with other cities and towns it does have a well connected web of close communities. Removing housing stock such as that in Gresham is going to be problematic for new families as well as old who have to then take out larger mortgages because the lower priced housing is being eradicated. The towns lower priced housing stock serves a purpose, without younger families are going to struggle further still in aquiring a property. I am intrigued as to what possible benefits there are in relation to Ray Mallon's plans, as all i can see is the negative side.
David Harris Ray Mallon is a regenerator and should be supported for that. his plans for the docklands area are positive and progressive - why stop there... Boro needs to support Ray Mallon in all his efforts to move Boro forward; along there way there will always be discentors, thats live - live with it, don't moan about it, get on with it...
Iain Mallon has gotten too big for his boots, thinks he knows whats best but doesnt know whats best. Youd think a pioneer of zero tolerance policing would realise how much damage disrupting communities causes. Fear of crime is lowest in close knit communities where people know one another. COMMUNITY being the key word, because community and residential area are two completely different things, and to be honest a community makes for much better living than a 'residential area'.
Elizabeth Ellis What is it with the elected(by the people) council of Middlesbrough why do they have to change the area around the town. Take the heart out of this community why don't you. Why not have a vote on it instead of all the powers that be making decisions that will affect possibly destroy the lives of the people who live in and love the area. If it is not broke don't fix it. I do not live in Middlesbrough myself but worked there for many years.
last updated: 03/09/2008 at 09:21 created: 05/08/2005
