Just before the robbing Tory budget

[garinda]

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?

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by garinda

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?

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.?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by MargaretR

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.?

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.

[garinda]

'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.

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by garinda

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.

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.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

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.

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 ......

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by steeljack

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 ......

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.

[garinda]

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.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

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.
.

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

[Tealeaf]

Originally Posted by steeljack

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

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?

[Taggy]

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

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

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?

cynic

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by steeljack

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

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.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by steeljack

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

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.

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by garinda

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

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.