Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Almost everything will be destroyed in the next five years..but do not loose faith.
YouTube - Fighters and Believers

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Mancie, get a life. Take those Red Labour glasses off and see the world .....or more specifically the UK as it really is.
We are in hock up to our necks.(thanks to the profligacy of Gordon and crew) Things have to be paid for, if you want to go down the same path as Greece....then continue believing that the state can fund everything.
Which ever government had been elected we would still have to pay the price.
We have danced the dance, now we have to pay the piper.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

70 billion in interest by 2015 thanks to your lot. as Magaret says, if you or I ran our home budgets like the Labour govermrnet ran the country we'd all be bankrupt

wake up to teh reality of the mess we are in

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Where does the Government borrow its money from?

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

give it a couple of years and you will wake up to the reality of a country obsessed with cuts.. no beds for the sick.. thousands living on the streets..all this has been done before by Tory governments and it will be again.
Margaret... you come across as a sit on the fence type and could not bring yorself to vote, you blame labour for everything, but as you have told us so many times we should not blame Thatcher because it was in the past...but you still find time to blame Labour for the cuts we have to bare.
There is only one aim for the Tory cuts.. that is to rob the less well off to appease the rich corporations that fund them.. the newspapers would cry foul if they raised taxes on business but will say nowt if one parent families benifits are cut.. think on it .

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

You've got that totally wrong Mancie everything has been totally destroyed in the last 13 years, your just too blind to see it :tongueout

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

The very people who Mancie hates so much

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

We are in hock to the Saudies
Yanks are in hock to the Chinese

...should make foriegn policy decisions interesting:rolleyes:

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Oh .. I'm the blind one?.. can you really say that the finances of the majority of the population have been worse over the last 13 yrs than under the Tories?.. do you think the minimum wage was a bad thing?.have you forgot the hospital patients lying on trolly's because of cuts on nurses? the last 2 years have been a world wide economic crisis but did you suffer so much that you could not feed yourself?..everything was not all paradise but people forget what we had under the last Tory Government..Thatcher and her mob blamed Labour for 18yrs and I say this lot will drive us into a get what you can while you can society.. if there is any such thing as "society" under any Tory Government.

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The World according to Zogg, for Zogg read Mancie, remember 1979 Mancie when your talking about people lying n trolly's, the dead unburied, waste piled high in the street and Britain the laughing stock of the financial world and the only thing Sonny Jim could say was crisis what crisis as he got of the plane after a Jolly to the West Indies

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

says tit all.. taking about 1979..and I'm the one who is blinkerd and bringing up the past.. ok what happend in the years after 79' unemployment at over 3 million with another 5 million on other benifits.. riots.. Thatcher going cap and hanbag in hand to pounce money from the same EU she and her kind took us into.. it was a great time. ;)

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Certainly better than Labours 70s efforts or should I say none efforts, Wilson and co weren't a Government they were a joke and not a very good one either

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err.. don't go slaggin off the 70's .. flares and all that.. the reality is you have an argument that is 50yrs old!.. times have changed and I'll ask you again.. have the last 12-13 yrs been worse than the 80's as in the economy?.. I say no.

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One thing we do know about the cuts as they effect Hyndburn, is that there's already been an 18% cut in our Housing Market Renewal Programme, which equates to about a reduction of 1.6 million. And we have been warned that a deeper cut could follow in the budget on the 22nd June.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

You are totally wrong Mancie......I would never sit on the fence if I thought that there was a party which would represent me accurately.
You want me to vote Tory because I won't vote in the same crew who screwed up the country......and they did you know.
I am sick of you harping back to Thatcher......it does not solve the mess we are in now....and despite what you might think, the Labour party had 13 sodding years to sort out any mess made by any other party.

It won't only be the less well off who get penalised by tax cuts, it will be all of us.
And what would your solution be to the financial crisis that we find ourselves in, be?
I would be interested to hear it.
We had a Chancellor....let me think, who was it now???? Ah Yes, it was the venerable Gordon Brown......who sold off our gold reserves at a fraction of what they were worth....and this was in times when the country was supposed to be in a very healthy financial condition.

it is time you woke up to the reality of the situation.......if we don't do something very soon we will be bankrupt:(.

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And by the way Mancie, thankyou for your gift of negative Karma...it shows that a nerve was touched there....but it does mean that you have read what I posted.

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So that means no new houses in the next 2yrs.. I may be biased but this does not look like the investment for the future Cameron (and Clegg) talked about.

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You are welcome.. maybe my nerves get touched when someone who proclaims to be neutral has spent the last 3 months slagging off this country..and tells us it's all Gordon Browns fault for the savage cuts this Government will impose on the less well off in our SOCIETY.

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To whom are you referring in your last post.
If you mean me then say so.....and provide evidence of the posts where for the last 3 months I have 'slagged off' this country.
And you misrepresent me when you say it is Gordon Browns fault for the savage cuts which will be required to get the country back on track......it is the whole of the Labour governments fault....and if you cannot see this then you should be applying for a dog and a white stick.

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Is it not about time that facts were faced???? There isn't one party who have tackled the problems that really need tackling, i.e unemployment, immigration. You would have to be blind not to see that the last thirteen years have hardly been successful on either fronts. Here in Accrington nearly all our major employers have gone Rist Wires, TML (or whatever they were trading as on closure), Nori Brick Yard to name but a few. This country can't afford to just keep letting immigrants arrive here and use our Health Services, education etc without making a contribution yet it continues to do so. (and before anybody calls me racist I'm not just sensible). These issues and many more need tackling but are any of the parties up to the job? No I don't think they are, do you know different????

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How can it be the past Labour Government be blamed for cuts this Government will employ?.. in this country the Government are all powerful.. with an overall majority they do what they wish... Gordon Brown nor Labour have a say in it and that's the way it should be.
In the past Margaret you have in your posts pointed out to people that it's no use blaming Thatcher or the last Tory Government.. yet you are quick to blame Labour and Brown.

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Why do we have to suffer these cuts?.. Britain is still the 6th wealtheist nation in the world..and only 2nd behind Germany in Europe... the media have talked us into a doom and gloom future for their own intrests.. Sky..ITV most of the newspapers and even the BBC are managed by the top 2% richest in the world.. they have a very real reason to talk not only this country but all of the western economies into grabbing money from the rest of us.

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To me its about time ya all woke up, labour did this, tories did that,:rolleyes: they are all complete *******, n look after there own, not us ya dummies, get real n stuff em all.:rolleyes:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

...and so say all (well, most) of us! :D

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Which would have been arranged well before may sixth Bernie old chap

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Pre-election, Labour also faced up to the fact they too would have to impose severe cuts, in an attempt to sort out the current financial mess we're in, but they said they'd hold back doing it immediately, so as not to 'damage the economic recovery', but which we all know was really a way of trying to woo the electorate, by not having to think about cuts in the here and now.

Socially, and morally, the successive Labour governments made some historic inroads.

However, when it came to economics, they were hopeless.

They also courted the city financiers just as much as any previous Tory governments, and succeeded in making London the destination of choice for every dodgy oligarch, and dubious billionaire...hardly the actions of a party connected in anyway to socialism.

Under new Labour champagne flowed in trendy Islington, and a boom was enjoyed, with no thought of tomorrow.

We've had the boom, now it's cuts, or bust.

As others have pointed out, if you ran a household like the country has been managed, we'd now be pushing our worldly goods down the street in an old pram.

The political blindness exhibited by Mancie, Jaysay & co. can be quite amusing, if it wasn't also a little sad.

Like a red and blue Chuckle Bothers.

To me (it's Thatcher's fault), to you (no it isn't, it was all down to Callaghan).

:rolleyes:

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the video in original post was interesting , almost as if the producers had graduated from the Leni Riefenstahl school of film-making

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Lol, from bending and stretching with a swastika, to Nubian dongs, in three easy steps, over a six decade time frame.

She was always very well turned out, mind.

:D

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The 18% cut in Housing Market Renewal funding for Hyndburn was part of the £6.2 billion cuts, that the new Chancellor George Osborne announced, two weeks after the General Election.

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Not only no new houses. But it looks like we not going to get anywhere near the money we were hoping for, and money we need to renovate areas such as East Accrington.

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I'm certainly far worse off now than I ever was under previous conservative administrations. My servings are worth practically nothing, and what little interest is earned is taxed to the limit. The Tories cannot be blamed for the current state of affairs - and don't overlook the fact that the Lib-Dems have access to the books as well, and they can't both be accused of lying over the abysmal mismanagement of the UK economy as overseen by their predecessors!

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Some speech that, Garinda, and there's a whole lot of truth in what you say. Maybe we should look back to the similarities that were occurring in pre-1939 Germany when Herr Hitler utilised the unemployed to build up a massive armaments program prior to his invasion of Poland which subsequently kicked off the second world war.

Could not what is happening in Greece and the imminent downfall of the euro with all it's implications for the European Union lead to another major conflagration?

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Highly unlikely , who's going to fight it , the birthrates of the "native" northern Europeans are too low to sustain natural replacement as it is, let alone provide enough canon fodder to fight a full scale war.

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I sincerely hope that you are right - but remember Chamberlain and his 'peace in our time' promise.

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It is a bit different isn't it?...blaming a government from the 1980's to blaming a government that has just left office, and whose politicians squandered lied and cheated the tax payer.....that is, unless it has escaped your notice, you and me.
And by your reckoning the government in power cannot be all powerful if they are left with the mistakes that go back to Margaret Thatcher.

You haven't answered the question that I asked earlier......how would you deal with the current financial crisis we have been left with?

The Labour government fostered a welfare dependent society...with benefits being paid out to people who had not paid into the system.
Britain no longer has a manufacturing base...which means we no longer make products to sell on the world market......we provide services, and these are not great earners, especially in the climate of global recession.

We have to realise that whatever services we use must be paid for...if you haven't got the money then you can't pay.
Try getting your shopping from Tesco without paying for it and see how far you get.
If Labour had got in do you think you would have been in for an easier ride?
If you think that then you obviously do not live in the real world or understand the problems that beset us.

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The biggest load of crap was today when they said they are gonna consult the public oer were to make these cuts, what the hell have they been elected to do? :rolleyes: this is the soft arse way out, the public tells em, then the publics to blame fer the pain, Get Stuffed n do the job ya were elected to do.:rolleyes::(

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I suppose savers enjoyed interest rates which peaked at 15%, which it did under the Tories in the eighties, but it didn't do much for the economy, and which was the main reason Thatcherist governments were obsessed about lowering it.

They'd have loved inflation to be as low as it is today.

;)

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

it was 15% for about 2 hours IIRC on the day of the crash. I was working at The Brit that day and when I told some business men they actually got up straight away and left mid meal.

The reality is teh man on teh street has 'felt' wealthy and had money and goods to show for it, problem is its all actually just held in debts and never never.
(Their bold)

so you haven't really had all this money Mancie its just waiting to come and bite you on teh arse. The reality is that the old goverment encouraged you to spend spend spend....

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

From July 1988 to May 1992 we had interest rates in double figures, and in 1989 and 1990 it was a constant 14%, except when it peaked, which is what I previously posted, at 15%.

The Thatcherist governments, which includes Major, would have wet themselves at the interest and inflation rates we have today, as that was one of their main economic policies.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

a better measure of affordability is not the rate but the percentage of salary to service your mortgage

in 1991 for FTB it was 60% in 2006 it peaked at near 140%.

Source Ratio of House Prices to Income | Finance Blog

now I'd rather have 40% left over from what I earn than be sinking deeper in debt.

there is always a different way of looking at life than just plain figures on paper, whilst this also brings it back to what Mancie says people feeling like they have cash in their pockets is a good thing and quite addictive but the reality is that it is unsustainable long term to live beyond your immediate means.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see where the inevitable cuts will come. We can all probably second guess where the brunt of them will be applied, but until we see it set down in black and white, I guess we'll just have to sit back and hold our breath.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Some are already here, in black and white.


Accrington scheme to build 170 homes axed (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

The house-building programme is an obvious choice for cuts, not least of all because we have over 2000 empty properties in Hyndburn and official figures show that we have a net inward migration of around 200 singles/families per year.

Renovation of these properties and the return of a portfolio of council-owned housing would be a far more prudent investment, although the Conservative stance is quite different. The only new housing we are really in desperate need of is sheltered accommodation for the elderly.

The thinking goes along the lines of building new 'affordable' housing so that those who want to rise above the terraces have something to aspire to but the average wage in Hyndburn is £18k and the average price of a new 'affordable' home is £150k so the figures don't actually add up that well.

Anyone moving to Hyndburn knows what they are going to get in terms of housing, so why try and turn us into something we're not at a time when money is tight? Cllr Wells pointed out recently that new housing estates are lying almost empty because no one in Hyndburn can afford them.

Personally, I'm far happier in my mid-terrace than a Barratts shoebox.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

It's horses for courses, and down to personal choice, but so am I.

I've lived in properties as diverse as an eighteenth century, five storey house built for the Huguenots in Spitalfields, to a brand spanking new city centre loft apartment in Glasgow, and now I'm very happily ensconced in a traditional nineteenth century Lancashire terrace.

I posted on here years ago, that in London and the south the typical mill workers terraced housing, that we still have an abudance of, would be refurbished, and cherished as part of our historical heritage, rather than be cleared, to make way for 'better' housing.

I remember much of the stone built terraced housing in Church was demolished in the seventies, and new, 'better' housing replaced it.

Thirty years on, the replacement, 'better' housing has had to be demolished.

My house was built in 1870, and will still be here in sixty years time, when it reaches it's bicentennial.

I rather doubt if many modern built houses will still be standing in two hundred years.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

It's this obsessive 'look at our shiny new housing programme what we we built, we did that, us, we did it' that rankles me.

You've hit the nail on the head and sooner or later we're going to regret the demolition of so many terraces as the vast majority are extremely well-built houses.

Find me a new house with a chimney. I'm in the process of having my fireplaces opened up for the installation of stoves and from listening to the chimney sweep I am certainly not alone. The increasing number of smoky pots in winter is also testament to the fact that people are going back to solid fuel.

Oops, shouldn't have said that.

'There will be a 50% increase in tax on solid fuels....'

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Personally I'm much happier living in my stone built, mill worker's terraced house, unique to this part of the north, than I would be in a modern built house, whose generic appearance owes more to the Toy Town school of architecture.

Much of the new housing that's replaced some of the cleared Victorian looks shoddily built, as witnessed by the new housing that was demolished in Church, and some looks very uncared for already.

Newly built 3 bedroomed house, bathroom, central heating, all mod cons. Outdoor storage space for mattresses/pit bull run, or alternatively could be used as a garden.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Something we can agree on Garinda, having worked in the building industry on both new build and refurbishment I know which I would pick every time, and like you would be a stone built terrace house with character. In the early seventies I worked on the deck access flats at Shad for John Laing construction, the system used was off Swedish design called Jesperson, all prefabricated at a factory in Hyde and transported to Blackburn, this was supposed to be the way forward as were tower blocks, (there were around 5 in Blackburn) less than forty years later most of these are gone, but I believe Blackburn are still paying for them

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Spot on, having worked in construction, lived in most differant types of home, am well happy to be back in a terrace. the older semis re- the red brick uns on dill hall (had one) are built well, think they changed the spec in 60s, jaysay will know fer sure, n started building with matchsticks etc fer roof joists n spars, n cheaper less substantial crap was going in other areas of houses, they were never gonna last, but they looked nice n silly women wanted em.:rolleyes:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Exactly cashy we used T and G boarding for floors not donkey biscuit, seven inch skirting boards three inch architraves, decent roof beams, common brick inside walls not breeze block, copper piping not plastic, the list goes on

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Many of the older type stone built terraces were knocked down, when I am pretty sure that with some renovation(costing far less than new build plus demolition) would have made excellent family homes.
Homes with history and character.
The building of social housing was cut back by councils decades ago.
Governments of the past(and local councils for that matter) have squandered money on Mickey mouse schemes.......and when the money just isn't there, then there is no real alternative but to cut back on building programs.
The outcome would have been the same if a Labour government had been re-elected.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

exactly the outcome would be the same, it was a case of "looks Nice" n "Cheap" before PRACTICAL.:rolleyes:

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Trouble is cashy you don't see to many Joiners, Plumbers, Plasterers, Electricians, Brickies or the like sitting on the benches in the House of Commons and Government advisers will all have an ulterior motive for new build:rolleyes: a deep trouser pocket;)

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Very true. But I think I'm right in saying that most social housing is now provided by Housing Associations and Co-Ops and quite honestly the standard of their housing far exceeds most of the crap that councils built. In addition, some social housing is now provided by private developers as part of a package in new housing developments. And of course, there are shared ownership schemes although I am not aware of any of these in Hyndburn.

What is striking is the lack of imagination within HBC on housing developments although to what extent this has been due to the envelopment of the Elevate scheme, I don't know. What would have been nice to have seen would have been the redevelopment of some of that Victorian terraced stock along the lines of the Salford 'Upside-Down' housing scheme. Still, to late for that now.

However, that lack of imagination is still showing through. The alternative to new housing is now going to be a publicily funded park. That will require maintainance costs. What happens when further cuts are implemented? There are already enough problems for existing park funding.

On the basis that it will be many years before any housing development can take place, surely the better option would be to hand this land over for allotments? I'm certain there is a substancial waiting list in Hyndburn and if the wider debate on food scourcing is taken into account, then surely this would offer a far cheaper, more radical and sustainable plan.

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'The publication aims to make it clearer to councils how to manage their budgets effectively in the light of spending cuts. Those worst affected include Portsmouth and Hyndburn, which are both receiving the maximum 2% overall budget cut.'

CLG confirms £1.16bn local government funding cuts | Public Property UK

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

The interesting thing is that Area Councils have had their budgets cut by around 20% in Hyndburn whilst the Leader of the Council (among others) has just voted to raise their own salary by a large percentage.

Feathering the nest of the few at the expense of the entire borough doesn't really sound like prudent practice to a new boy like me.

It's nice to know that our money is being well spent though, isn't it?

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Please do take into account the rate of inflation.

Meet the World's Most Expensive Burger

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Sorry G, forgotten about that.

Perhaps he should raise his salary a bit more just to compensate?

In the meantime, I'll have the £2,500 back that Rishton lost this year so I can build a bus shelter for the old folk and schoolkids.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I was talking to a woman from Forrest the firm that's doing the regeneration in this area they have just about finished in our street (persia st) she was calling round with a letter to let us know they would be sandblasting again on the lower part of the houses they missed first time round.
i asked how far they where going and she said our street would be the last this year as there was no more money to do Hyndburn street,India street or china street till next year

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Cynic that I am, just keep an eye out for the money that Peter Britcliffe miraculously finds this year for Oswaldtwistle.

Keep your punters happy.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Punters?

We don't pay him.

:D

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

We all have to pay the ferryman, I'm afraid. He write the songs, you know.

Councillor Peter Britcliffe - Home

Everyone in the whole borough voted for him to be leader of the council, honest.

Now, about my £2,500.....

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Just making up for the suffering Ossy had when Labour were in control for 13 years when we got nout, and the Peoples Republics of Spring Hill And Within Grove wanted for nout:rolleyes:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I stand corrected.

Oswaldtwistle badly needs more money pumping into it whilst Springhill is a panacea for the cares of mind, all thanks to Labour spending tactics.

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That sounds a reather childish reason.

Surely money should be targeted wherever it's most needed, irrespective of where in the borough it is.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

There are many areas of the borough that seem to be sadly neglected moneywise, I would much prefer if ALL the elected councillors strove to improve the whole of Hyndburn and not just the area they are representing. Sadly can't see it happening any time soon and in certain areas house prices nose dive due to the neglect:(

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Exactly, but was just pointing it out to a new councillor that his beloved party were just as bad, if not worse, when they ruled the roost

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

That's just the sort of pettiness you get from political parties, that's really wearing me down.

They did wrong, so we'll do wrong too, to redress the balance.

As Bernie said, it'd be great if councillors worked cross-party more, for the whole borough, rather than a crazy bun fight, with each councillor trying to bag the best buns for their ward.

Labour did it, so now we'll do it, sounds pathetic.

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The National Government have been blaming Labour and Brown for all the coming grief..every single decision regarding the cuts have been blamed on the former administration.. how long before we all get fed up with the excuse that it's all Labours fault..maybe 2 years .. but we will not have the right to elect an alternative government for the next 5 yrs.. that is the modern "democracy" in Britian.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

...and you've been banging on about Thatcher and the eighties.

It's time to worry about today, and forget about who did what in the past.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

You, me and I suspect everybody but the die hard labour/tory supporters feel just the same G. What we really need both locally and nationally is for one or both parties to address issues that matter to the general populace instead of all this "they did that, we did this" carp we get fed. To be honest it is just like being in a school playground and god help us these are the people who are elected to represnt us:o:(

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

As I've said before on numerous occasions, have a go, standing for council, county council or even Parliament is not restricted to political parties.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

It's a nice idea but sadly unworkable.

There are certain issues that councillors are involved with that are concerned with the entire borough (such as taxi licensing, etc) but the whole point of being elected for your ward is that you know what needs doing in that area better than another councillor in say Milnshaw or Huncoat. I'm currently pushing for a new post box for lower Rishton, a tiny project in the grand scheme of things and wouldn't even register on the Hyndburn map so a good example of why each ward needs specific councillors for that area.

At the moment, Cllr Grayson and myself very badly want a community centre in Rishton. It isn't going to happen anytime soon because there isn't the money but when you see one of Oswaldtwistle's four community centres getting an unnecessary facelift it rankles you somewhat when we don't have one at all and could have used that money to build one.

I've often said that concentrating all money in one ward is a terrible idea but as long as Peter Britcliffe is Leader of Hyndburn Council we are going to see everything spent in Oswaldtwistle.

A priorities list across the whole of Hyndburn would be the best solution as no one could argue that the most important things weren't being tackled first but it isn't going to happen as long as there are votes to be garnered in the Leader's ward.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I can't think of the four community centre in Oswaldtwistle you mention.

There's one on Harvey Street, and then there's the arts centre which is being built in the Civic Theatre, which although sited here is for the whole borough, and until it's opened can't really be classed as a community centre.

It's hard to judge if Oswaldtwistle gets more than it's fair share of money. If it does, that is wrong.

Although I don't visit Gt. Harwood and Rishton all that often, I do regularly get to most other parts of the borough. People in Ossy generally think that other parts of Hyndburn get more money targeted at them for regeneration etc.

Perhaps it's human nature that people always think someone else gets the better deal, than themselves.

As I said, I honestly don't know if it's true.

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The Blackburn Road area has done very well just lately and I'm sure Peter Britcliffe doesn't represent the voters in that area. Sorry but the way I see it the money should be spread out more fairly irrespective of who your councillor is. My friend had a beautiful house in the Woodnook area and got nowhere near what she should have when she sold. Why are certain areas just left to deteroriate?

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Empty properties infect an area like cancer.

It leads to people selling out to irresponsible property developers from out of town who couldn't give a toss. In turn, no one wants to buy a house in a high rental area so the chain continues and ripples outwards, all from one block of rotten houses.

We have one block in Rishton at the moment about 20 yards from my house and it has dragged the area down over 8 years to the point where almost one third of the ward is affected. Unfortunately, it's an extremely costly exercise to demolish them although it's hard to see that when you're on the receiving end of the upshot.

Hyndburn needs strict regulation on rental properties (which only about five wards currently have) and since the run-in period is at least 18 months before it can be rolled out to other areas it seems that some of us are in for a long wait before things get better.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Not disputing the figure, but where are the 2,000 empty homes in Hyndburn?

Are they privately owned, and does the figure include social housing?

I've seen one or two, but 2,000 seems a gigantic figure.

Which area are most of them in?

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

When I visited Within Grove using Google maps, I was amazed at how many are boarded up there. I got the impression of 25% - maybe more.
The next question - were they passed to Hyndburn Homes along with all the others.?

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

That's the only place I can think of, which has empty properties in any number. I can't think of many, if any, in Ossy, or the back way I drive into Accy via Springhill, and the factory bottoms.

'PROPOSALS to seize and sell off empty and derelict properties could put an end to numerous blights across the borough.'
Hyndburn empty properties could be seized and sold (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Two thousand is the figure quoted in the press, so it must be right, but it seems like a massive figure, especially considering there are no high rise developments in Hyndburn.

Most of the houses that were supposed to redeveloped off Blackburn Road have been demolished, so they can't be counted in the number.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

'Public sector vacancies include a totem pole artist, a “putting people first programme manager”, two posts for “London empowerment partnership co-ordinators” and a “head of city volunteering”.'
Cuts? What cuts? - Times Online

Perhaps Mancie's just miffed because he's down to the final five, for the totem pole artist racket.

:rolleyes:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

It's an official HBC figure and there is a dedicated Empty Properties Officer who seems to know his stuff very well.

It doesn't include every single empty property as there are a number of 'hidden' rental ones which drop below the radar.

It's a sad situation. I personally try not to think that 50 years ago all these lovely old terraced houses had families in them living side by side in neighbourly communities.

I'm not trying to paint a rose-tinted picture but the drop in the number of owner-occupiers has been to the detriment of the country, in my opinion.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Think I have mentioned it before in other threads , but no one has ever come back with an answer ,........modern day familys with children don't want to live in 2 up 2 downs , why is there no scheme in place to allow a family to buy 2 terraced properties and knock them into one without having to pay double property/council tax ,think 125/133% is a suitable place to start talking, it would retain existing property, improve derilict areas and allow more on street parking. As it is HBC is losing money by allowing empty terraced housing to become derilict .
your thoughts ......:confused: :confused:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I agree to a point and there are several magnificent examples in Hyndburn of houses that have been knocked through. They are spectacular and anyone would be proud to live in a home such as those. It's quite expensive to do however and the return is not quite what you might expect, plus you have to consider what area the houses are in.

As an example, on Bridge Street where I live I would need around £120k to buy two houses plus at least £30-40k to renovate them into one house which I could never possibly recover on the open market. Such a scheme would require regeneration investment over a substantial area in order to make it viable and there isn't the money in the pot.

However, it's uncharitable to say that no modern families want to live in terraced houses because it simply isn't true. Terraced houses are good stock for the most part and much bigger than they are given credit for. A family with two small children can quite happily live in a terrace until a certain age, and with one child indefinitely.

We need a return to social housing for the derelicts and the property developers from Manchester kicking into touch.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

If the 2,000 doesn't include the ones that are between tenants, I can't think of any in Oswaldtwistle that are empty.

Let's have a survey on Accy Web. Are there any empty properties near where you live?

I suppose my house is a two up/two down, though it's actually two down, plus a kitchen extention, and two bedrooms up, plus a bathroom.

Lots of families were brought up on my row, and still are. Though they extended at the back, and into the loft, to get more space, rather than knock two together. The rooms are bigger than some new build doll's houses, and is more solidly constructed, and sell for similar prices to new builds of the same square footage.

I've nothing against new builds, I lived in one in Glasgow, but I've never been happier than now, living in my Victorian terrace.

Incidentally, some terraced housing in Ossy has been refigured to accommodate people's changing needs, by knocking through to create upper, and ground floor flats, depending if people can manage stairs. None of those are empty either.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Ken , you and me are going to fall out ;) , "much bigger than they are given credit for " a 2 up 2 down is 4 rooms , (unless there is a built on back kitchen) , the back bedroom has probably had a 60s grant which halved the size of the back bedroom , okay if you have 2/3 children of the same sex and you put them in bunk beds and want them to live like rats in a cage till one of them is old enough to leave home , think the days of families with four or five or more kids who went to Sunday Mass or Sunday school are long gone and what was acceptable then isn't now.
Lets not even get onto the size of the backyards which now under local dictats are required to hold 4 or 5 different 'dustbins' , or 2 bins and 3 recycling box's/bags indoors.

Be interesting to hear from Accy web users of a certain age who were raised in the 40/50s in multiple kid households how they managed the space in a 2 up 2 down :D :D

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

You need to be more specific. With or without an inside toilet? With an inside bathroom or a tin tub hanging on the nail in the backyard?

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Pretty sure you'll find that the Average Room size of a Terraced House will be larger than the Average Room size of most of these box new builds!

Best Regards - Taggy

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

cynic :D :D

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I won't try to change your mind then, but in my opinion you are wrong.

The terraced house I live in is considerably bigger than the three bedroom dormer bungalow that I grew up in and not much smaller than the four bedroom detached new build that we eventually moved to.

I suspect that the general perception is of tiny narrow houses rather than the actuality. Although my wife is keen to eventually find a big detached house we're hardly tripping over each other and there is more than enough room to accommodate extra people, which we frequently do.

Many people (certainly in this area) use the front parlour as an extra bedroom and the family living across from me have three teenage kids living with them. We use ours as a dining room and for my 30th birthday two years ago we had a party with 20+ people who were all comfortably seated in the two reception rooms.

The mad idea that we need to demolish all our terraced properties and replace them with new builds is seriously flawed. If you don't want to live in a terraced house then stay away from Hyndburn, it really is that simple.

82,000 people seem to quite like it.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

We have one bin in Hyndburn, plus recycling sacks and a box, which I keep inside.

Square footage wise my (smaller) terrace is larger than the three bedrromed dormer semis, built in the sixties and covering most of the West End in Ossy, and is larger than the newly built three bedroomed houses, sited next to the cricket pitch on New Lane.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I can't really speak for any other wards as I've only really been concerned with Rishton but I know that East and West Accrington have large blocks of unoccupied houses.

We have a few hundred which are either empty or boarded up in Rishton and it's a terrible shame. They become magnets for vandals and drag areas down when we have people struggling to get onto the property ladder and can only really afford a terraced house.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Don't forget Steeljack lives in the U.S., where land is relatively cheap.

The new builds sound good on paper, four beds, two bathrooms and a utility room, but all those I've been in have tiny dimensions.

It's true, terraced housing won't suit everyone, but as stated earlier, in other parts of the country this architectural heritage would be refurbished and conserved, not demolished.

I have a friend who lives in a smaller teraced house than mine, in Battersea, she paid just under £400,000. for it, and people fight to live in those former factory workers terraced housing.

There are two of my neighbours whose houses are for sale at the minute, priced at £105,000. and £118,000, and when they do come on the market, they usually aren't for sale very long, as people like living here, as I do.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

With regards to Within Grove, and Empty Properties, when I was moving back to Hyndburn in the mid 80s under the disabled transfer scheme, the young lady I spoke to at HBC offered me a property on that estate, my reply was I would sooner live in a tent on the top of the Coppice, her reply to that was, well maybe it isn't one of our better estates, I just ask who would want to live there, think we can make a list on a postage stamp

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

We have just had our street done through the regeneration with Forrest the whole street looks a lot better except one property think its number 15 or 17 whoever owns it has refused to have any work done no sandblasting no new windows or doors no fence or gate it makes the street look odd makes you think if the owners have something to hide.
i have never seen anyone go in or out of this property though:confused:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I would certainly question 4 community centre, the Arts Centre being created at the old town hall is for the Borough as a whole, the two centers on Harvey street, I nearly sure the old one was carried over from the old UDC days the Youth and Community Centre which opened in the early 90s is sod all to do with HBC, Its LCC. The campaign for that building was a whole party initiative together with much input from ordinary members of the public too. The Ossy Youth Support Group was a Ad Hoc committee set up around 1986 and consisted of all councillors plus the head of Rhyddings School, Miss Moore and other teachers and ordinary people from the town and the police, Don Mackay Rovers Manager at the time and an Oswaldtwistle resident was the Hands on President, Brian Walmsley who was not a councillor at the time, was treasurer, I was secretary and PB was chairman, (unanimously elected) also involved was Barry Emmott of LCC youth Services. Not only did we lobby for the centre to be built, but we raised literally thousands of pounds to support youth projects in the town, at personal expense in lots of cases, to achieve our goal. As for the fourth one I'm a little amiss with that one please be so good to point it out Ken if you would, the venue must have slipped my mind :rolleyes:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I could be wrong then, but Hippings Vale and West End both fall under the purview of Oswaldtwistle, so I believe and neither have been referred to. Like I said, I could be wrong in my asumptions.

However, there seems to be a good number of community gathering points in Oswaldtwistle and here in Rishton we have nothing, save for the People's Centre which is an old house badly in need of refurbishment that can fit 30 people in at best.

I'm sure that there are other wards even worse off than us.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

As I've said Hippings vale was part of Ossy UDC and West End I could be wrong but I always thought that was church oriented not council

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

You need to calm down mate. All that bitterness is going to give you an ulcer. Why don't you just move to Ossy instead. You obviously love the place as you cant stop talking about it.

If you start looking for a house now you might be in town in time for the grand opening of the brand new £107,000 multi use games area being developed in Rhyddings Park.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Is that the one that gives electric shocks, to kids using it who aren't from Ossy?

:D

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Ah, sorry Neil, forgot I was insulting one of your mates.

I'm sure that all the other wards without any playing facilities will be overjoyed to hear that £107k of council money has been spent renovating something that was already there.

It took the youth groups of Rishton 12 years of pushing for outside grants before we got a MUGA because there wasn't enough money at HBC.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

It's really too hard to make accurate comparissons.

I could say I've seen better maintained park paths in the borough, when for a good many years the paths in Rhyddings park have been very dangerous to anyone with poor eyesight or mobility, because of the state they were allowed to get in.

The same criticism could be levied at areas that have been targeted with regeneration budgets, from those areas that haven't.

If I had proof that money was unfairly distributed because of where the Council Leader lives, I'd be the first to say that that was very wrong.

I honestly don't know if that's the case.