Hodgsons Road Estate Residents Bulletin
November 2011
Welcome to the November edition of the Hodgsons Road Estate Residents
News Bulletin.
Since the Executive Councils decision to proceed with the regeneration plans for Hodgsons Road
Estate the following progress has been made.
Appointment of new Resident Liaison Officer
The Council have appointed a dedicated Resident Liaison Officer, Gary McGuire, who will be
based on the estate.
Gary is an experienced Resident Liaison Officer who has worked on similar projects across
Northumberland and has a wealth of experience.
Gary will start his new role on 7th November. His mobile telephone number is 07767 003116
Community House
The community house will be used throughout the redevelopment of the estate as a base for Gary
and this will allow you to have meetings with Gary or for you to drop in and ask for updates. The
community house needs to have minor works carried out to make it useable, in the meantime Gary
will be based at Athlone Court, in the Learning Room, Monday to Friday mornings.
Gary’s role will include meetings with residents and attending project meetings so that he can
keep you up to date about what is happening. We will keep you updated on the progress of the
Community house and Gary’s moving in date.
Decent Homes Improvements
The Residents Steering Group met with council officers on 21st September and stressed the
importance of commencing decent homes improvements as soon as possible.
Homes for Northumberland have started to carry out surveys to properties that need replacement
windows and doors, this work will start very soon and will hopefully completed by March 2012.
Further surveys will be carried out for other decent homes works. Residents will be kept up to
date on progress.
Demolition and New Build on the Estate
The Council are meeting with the Residents Steering Group on Monday 7 th November to discuss
any concerns, issues and suggestions that residents may have during the demolition period and
what they would most like to see from the new homes.
This information will then be taken to a meeting the Council are having on the 10th November with
a number of potential developers. The Resident’s Steering Group will also attend this meeting as
observers. At the meeting the developers present are all partners of the Council and all have many
years’ experience of working on similar type projects.
Allocations for those affected by demolition and new build
Work is underway to ensure that all residents who are directly affected by the demolition proposal
are rehoused in suitable alternative housing.
The Northumberland Homefinder Board met on the 3 November and agreed that those affected by
the demolition plans on the estate would follow the policy below;
Residents affected by the demolition plans can apply to Northumberland Homefinder for rehousing
and will be awarded Band P which is the highest level of priority. Residents will keep this priority
for as long as they remain at their current house on the estate. They will be supported by Gary to
apply for homes.
Residents will be able to apply for an appropriate sized property, as defined in the Common
Allocation Policy. The only exceptions will be residents who are single person households
currently living in two bedroom houses who will be able to apply for either a one or a two bedroom
property. Other Social Landlords participating in Northumberland Homefinder reserve the right to
not make an offer of two bedroom accommodation to single person households where this would
not result in best use of their stock. In this instance landlords will liaise with Gary so that he can
ensure that residents are kept informed about why an offer is not be appropriate.
Gary will be the key point of contact for initial queries about Northumberland Homefinder
applications.
Owner Occupiers
A letter has been sent out recently to all owner occupiers directly affected by the demolition plans.
This letter explains that an independent valuer called e.surv has been appointed and will be in
contact with owner occupiers soon.
Home Loss and Disturbance Allowances
Home Loss and Disturbance Allowance payments have now been agreed by the Project Board for
those who are directly affected by the demolition.
The National set allowance of £4,700 will be given to those people who lose their home as a result
of demolition plans, with a further one-off payment of £800 to cover reasonable costs associated
with moving to another home.
The Hodgsons Road Project Team
Sarah Witherley is taking over the role as Project Manager, is based in Bedlington and her
telephone number is 01670 843418.
Sarah will continue to be supported by Joanne Craig – her telephone number is 01434 652310.
The whole project will be overseen by a Project Board which is made up of
Leader of the Council
Executive Member for Housing
Corporate Director Adult Services and Housing
Interim Head of Housing
Service Manager Housing
Project Manager
Jeff Reid
Tom Brechany
Daljit Lally
Kevin Lowry
Joy Lockhart
Sarah D Witherley
News Bulletins will be provided on a regular basis but don’t forget you can call Gary during office
hours from Monday.
Key telephone numbers (cut off and stick on the fridge)
Gary McGuire
Resident liaison Officer
07767 003116
Joanne Craig
Housing Supply Support Officer
01434 652310
Sarah D Witherley
Project Manager
01670 843418