Council defends mining village demolition scheme
LDRSA council leader has defended plans to demolish streets of houses and replace them with 100 new homes as part of the redevelopment of a former mining village.
John Baptiste, a resident of Horden, County Durham, asked Durham County Council's cabinet whether existing homes could be renovated for a lower cost than demolishing and rebuilding homes.
He said an estimate shared with residents suggested that homes earmarked for demolition could be brought up to the Decent Homes Standard for around £45,000 each.
Cabinet member for planning, Joe Quinn, said the authority was committed to the redevelopment and questioned the estimated figure to refurbish the homes.
Baptiste asked cabinet members why the council was pursuing a "costly, demolition-focused" approach and called for an updated comparison between refurbishment and redevelopment before any decision was taken to use compulsory purchase powers.
Quinn said: "The council does not consider that the refurbishment option you suggest will provide benefits equivalent to or of the same order as proposed under the development."
He hopes the masterplan will provide "new homes of modern design and standards" and offer a wider range of housing types and tenures to better meet local needs, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The Horden Masterplan, originally approved following public consultation, aims to replace older terraced housing with a mix of modern homes, including family houses, flats and bungalows, to improve housing choice.
The council acknowledged that the first phase of the scheme, covering Third Street and Fifth Street, would lead to a net reduction of seven properties.
However, it says the wider regeneration programme will create a more sustainable housing offer for the village in the long term.
