Senior councillors are anticipated to offer the inexperienced mild to the mothballing of six tower blocks across the city next week. They are Bailey Towers, Brooklands Towers and Ramshead Heights in Seacroft; Leafield Towers in Moortown; and Raynville Court and Raynville Grange in west Leeds.
Officers say the blocks have reached the tip of their helpful life and have concluded it will be cheaper to rehouse the 360 residents residing throughout them than to refurbish the properties.
However, the council has admitted that it received’t be capable to build newer trendy houses on the websites in query shortly.
Asked concerning the difficulty at a scrutiny assembly on Thursday (October 12), the council’s chief housing officer, Gerard Tinsdale: “The ultimate aim is to replace those blocks with nice high quality homes. But it’s going to take a few years for us to do that. It’s going to take potentially a couple of years to empty the blocks and get them down before we start looking to replace them.”
Mr Tinsdale mentioned the council’s housing service is in a “really difficult financial situation”. He defined: “We can’t afford to spend the money to make those blocks decent. We’ve an obligation to the people living in there, to make sure they’re living in decent properties. That’s why we’re asking the executive board to consider the decision [to demolish them].”
There are additionally issues concerning the wider influence on social housing within the meantime, with greater than 20,000 folks within the metropolis ready for a property. Those being evacuated from the blocks might be prioritised.
Liberal Democrat Coun Stewart Golton urged that single folks could be among the many worst affected, provided that many one-person council properties are in multi-storey blocks.
Mr Tinsdale added: “I think the simple answer would be it is going to put additional pressure on the service, should that report be agreed at executive board. It’s going to take out 360 units. So I don’t think there’s any other answer than ‘yes’, it will put pressure on the service.”
