Member Article

£2.2 million Hartlepool housing regeneration underway

A £2.2 million housing regeneration scheme in the centre of Hartlepool has taken a major step forward.

A programme of selective demolition on the Carr/Hopps Street redevelopment site, an area characterised by large numbers of empty and boarded-up terraced properties, is set to begin early next year.

Further work is also to be carried out to explore the options for a replacement housing scheme.

The redevelopment of the site has been an on-going issue since the Government scrapped funding for housing market renewal (HMR) schemes in 2011.

Subsequent lobbying from areas affected by this decision resulted in the Government making transition funding available to allow local authorities to make structured exits from existing HMR schemes, with Hartlepool receiving £2 million.

Hartlepool Council’s Regeneration Services Committee voted unanimously for demolition and gave the go-ahead for work to begin on the process of appointing a contractor after hearing that most of the properties on the site have now been acquired by agreement

This followed calls at the meeting for demolition to start as soon as possible from nearby residents who say the regeneration site is a source of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Although Hartlepool Council has acquired most of the properties on the site by agreement, several remain in private ownership, but the committee was told that these could be incorporated into a new housing scheme should the Council be unable to buy them

The Regeneration Services Committee agreed to extend a deadline for the remaining owners to sell to the Council until December 24, in line with the timetable for the letting of the demolition contract.

Councillors also agreed that fortnightly meetings should be held with residents to keep them fully informed.

Assistant Director (Regeneration), Damien Wilson, said: “We have already seen how successful the nearby Headway and Alexandra Square regeneration schemes have proved and the Carr/Hopps Street redevelopment is the last piece in the jigsaw of incremental housing regeneration in the town centre.”

Chair of the Regeneration Services Committee, Councillor Robbie Payne, said: “I want to reassure residents in the surrounding area whose lives have been blighted by delays in this scheme, that as a Council we will do all we can to move this scheme forward as quickly as possible.

“We now eagerly await the start of demolition work which will represent a major milestone in completing the redevelopment of this site.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →