Woodnook Improvement Scheme 2012 With Photos - Page 6

Margaret Pilkington · 06-01-2013, 16:34

And history only repeats itself because we are too damn stupid to learn the lessons that history shows us.

Surely, it is not beyond the inventiveness of man to sort out the problems of bad landlords and unruly tenants.
There must be estates up and down the country where people rent properties and live comfortably and peaceably alongside one another.
Don't tell me that every estate where rental properties are, is a 'sink' estate.

Retlaw · 06-01-2013, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

And history only repeats itself because we are too damn stupid to learn the lessons that history shows us.

Surely, it is not beyond the inventiveness of man to sort out the problems of bad landlords and unruly tenants.
There must be estates up and down the country where people rent properties and live comfortably and peaceably alongside one another.
Don't tell me that every estate where rental properties are, is a 'sink' estate.

Again Margaret, people do want to live in harmony, but it just takes a couple of greedy rogue landlords to turn a street bad, people move out, and more property goes to unscruplous landlords, and on it goes, then it turns into a Royds Street and the cycle goes on.
Back in my youth if some one made others lives a misery, and reported them, a six foot copper would turn up, knock six bells out of the offender, problem solved, no six months wait for a magistraite to issue a warning, the law today is a joke.

Margaret Pilkington · 06-01-2013, 17:13

Like I said, there must be a way to control the bad landlords and the unruly tenants.
Don't bad tenants get evicted anymore.
You see some councils(I'm not sure if our council is one of them) would lump all these nuisance tenants together...with no concern for other people of the area who owned their own home.......now when councils gave up on renting out homes I don't know what happened...or for that matter how legislation for unruly tenants is formualted or processed.

We can't go back to the six foot copper, but there must be legal alternatives.

Neil · 06-01-2013, 17:24

Knock them down and build modern efficient shoe box houses that people can afford to rent, heat and light. We used to live in a new ish North British housing association house, it was warm, light, not damp like our previous rented house. Gas bill was low, it had a high fenced garden so the kids were safe when they were small. Lots of off road parking. Our front door didn't open onto the street, we had a small front garden and a grass square shared by 5 houses in an L shape.

In my opinion much better than anything they will do with the old 2 up 2 downs in that area.

With a little thought and planning they could make the area nice.

The efficient bit in the story was a little worrying, the usual way is to clad the outside of the house to make it more insulated, it looks horrible, flat like a rendered wall.

smiley face · 06-01-2013, 17:30

omg that photograph is amazing. I have recently come back from the Portsmouth area and was in a local pub and chatting about Accrington and the landlady heard and said oh my goodness that is the town that everyone is trying to leave as housing is supposed to be really bad there. I said what makes you say that, she told me she heard it on the television only the other night. Haven't a clue what program but really there are so many good areas in Accrington this picture is shocking.

Ellerby · 17-01-2013, 14:15

Hey everyone

Those of you who still live in and around the Woodnook area may have noticed that work has now begun on the demolition of the rear yards and outriggers on the properties between Booth Street and Royds Street - great to see this project finally hit the ground and begin to deliver real positive for the Woodnook community - click on this link to some photo's PlaceFirst commissioned on Monday whilst the BBC's One Show team were up filming.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1114827...8QE&feat=email

Ellerby · 18-10-2013, 15:52

If you're interested in the empty homes project in Woodnook, here's a link to PlaceFirst's Flickr gallery where new albums have been added. There's a nice one highlighting all of the nice places, amenities, etc within a 10-minute walk, and there's some interesting shots showing progress on the show homes.

PlaceFirst's photosets on Flickr

Atarah · 19-10-2013, 08:04

Hi Mr Ellerby, thanks for posting. Will have a good read of it in a moment.

You probably are not aware of a lady who lived in Augusta St a long time ago. She had a book of poems published, which was looked upon as being a real achievement for her, as she was a mill lass, so would have spent most of her time working hard (think it was this street, will check it out). Her name was Matilda Harrison and her book was called "The Poet's Wreath" - one of her poems was named "My Childhood Home". Although her own street. Augusta, has now been "saved" she must have looked upon an earlier home being demolished and decided to write about it.

Ye might have spared my childhood’s home,
That long remembered’d spot
That wheresoe’er on earth I roam
Will never be forgot
Smile not because those walls are dear,
More dear than words can tell,
Nor deem me weak if, with a tear,
I bid them now farewell.

magpie · 20-10-2013, 17:53

great this is looking good :-) at least the streets have been saved and will live to tell more tales.... grew up there myself : well done :-)

Fra · 01-05-2014, 21:27

Looks like the show home is nearly done. Anyone know when the contractors are coming in to do the rest of them?

Retlaw · 01-05-2014, 22:00

This thread has been running now for near 3 years, some firm claiming they are doing the area up, all I ever see every time I drive up Royds St are the same boarded up properties. Are they ever going to actually do some thing, or is it all hype as usual, never seen any workmen in all this time, plenty of doctored photo's on a web site, what I would like to see is actual work being done. The whole area was built in less than 3 years back in the 1890's.

Neil · 03-05-2014, 07:24

I heard some interesting things about this scheme recently but I can't repeat them for legal reasons. Looks like something funny is going on. I am led to believe the houses were allegedly in very poor condition structurally but haven't seen the documents to prove it myself. I was never in favour of restoring the houses. Mainly because parking was always an issue in that area as with most terraced streets and they don't appear to have addressed it. They are supposed to be family homes but there is no safe place for children to play, no gardens and no play places. Kids playing on streets is another issue with terraced housing. I live in a terraced house in an area with lots of terraced houses so I see these issues daily.

Retlaw · 03-05-2014, 14:23

Just been to have a look round Bellfield Rd, Royds St, Augusta St, & Wilfred St, Bellfield looks fully occupied, there are some houses on Wilfred St occupied, just looks like they've had new widows & doors fitted, still 50% boarded up. Why should some of them be structurally unsound yet others are not, the whole block from Bellfield Rd to South St, Clement St to Hudson St were all built at the same time, during the late 1980's & 1890's. So what is going on, why can't they come straight out and say it, its been 3 years.

Ellerby · 01-10-2014, 11:23

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I was last on here, mainly because we've been so busy getting the project motoring - any of you who live in Woodnook will know there is lots of regeneration work going on across Woodnook now.

If you are interested in keeping up to date on what's happening, you can find plenty of info on the internet:

Hyndburn Council's site, including ALL the newsletters that have been distributed to the Woodnook community - Woodnook - Woodnook Regeneration

There's more detailed information on the new, energy efficient homes available to rent on the PlaceFirst website - Woodnook | PlaceFirst, CT Investment Partners, CTIP, North West Fund

There is also a Woodnook Facebook page which promotes local events, offers from local businesses, photos of local area, news on the regeneration, etc https://www.facebook.com/ourwoodnook

Just to clear up any confusion, the new & refurbished homes are NOT social housing and are, instead, aimed at lower income working families who are locked out of home ownership, whilst at the same time being a low priority for scarcely available social housing due to household income.

Ellerby · 01-10-2014, 11:28

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any old photo's of The Britannia Inn they'd be happy to share on the forum? I've been to the archives in Preston but could only find a partial shot of the pub looking down Nuttall Street?

The pub will be refurbished externally soon and PlaceFirst would like to try and be sensitive to it's heritage. Main things we're looking for are window and door types, colour (could be hard if they're old photos!) and original signage.

If anyone can help, it would be much appreciated. Martin