Tenants hit out over demolition of Dudley flats

Hundreds of people could be forced to move if the plans go ahead, which will be decided at Dudley Council's Cabinet meeting next week.

Tenants aired their concerns at a public consultation with council officers held at Netherton Arts Centre on Thursday evening.

Council officers revealed the flats – Arley Court, Compton Court, Manor Court and Wells Court – could be knocked down because the council says it will cost more than £9 million to keep the buildings in their current condition over the next few years but it would cost £3m to demolish the buildings and compensate tenants and leaseholders.

Residents hit out at the meeting saying Dudley Council has failed to carry out repairs following complaints over maintenance concerns such as water leaks.

Among the people opposed to the plans are couple Thomas William Gough, aged 88, and Lilly Gough, 90, who live in Wells Court for nearly half a century.

Thomas said: "We have lived here for 49 years when the flats were first built, we don't want to move.

"I have lived in Netherton all my life. I fear the worst if the plans go ahead, when you have lived here all your life you don't want to move."

Lilly added: "We love it here, we don't want to move, my first husband and my brother worked on these flats when they were built."

At the meeting one resident, who didn't want to be named, said: "I have been living here for 41 years and I don't want to lose my home. People in their 70s and 80s will lose their home.

"I think it is cruel. This is going to bury one or two people because they won't get over it."

If the decision is approved by Cabinet, the process for the work will set to start around October. However there will be no time limit on when the buildings would be knocked down.

New residential properties could be built in place of the flats, council officers added.

Rachel Hill, who lives in Arley Court, 30, said: "I am not happy about the plans, where are we going to go? I don't know what would happen. I am against the plans." Nathan Bridges, 34, from Arley Court, added: "I think it is a bad move." However Adam Bridges, 26, also of Arley Court, said: "I am for the plans. It is cold and damp inside the flats, I want them to come down. I have found a lot of elderly people have moved out to bungalows."

Dudley Council will speak to residents one to one if the plans are approved about how to move forward.

Council officers said residents can be moved to other properties within Dudley borough or Netherton if homes were able.

Occupiers of the four high rise flats were notified about Dudley Council's plan in a letter sent out on May 26. It stated 3,000 of Dudley Council's houses are rated as red, which will be urgently looked because they cost the authority more to maintain them than it earns back off rent. Chief housing officer for Dudley Council Mark Rodgers said: "We have looked at stock across all 22,000 units in Dudley, and of all the properties these four blocks in Netherton had the worst red score and were the biggest challenge to the council."

He added: "We appreciate many people have put a lot of time and effort into their blocks and flats and have lived in these communities for many years. We do not make this recommendation lightly."

In the letter addressed to residents, chief housing officer Mark Rodgers said: "High rise flatted accommodation is a particular challenge for Dudley and indeed a lot of other Councils.

"Much of it is getting closer to or beyond the estimated lifetime it was thought to have when built. Some of it is in low or no demand."

Another 3,000 are rated amber where more time will be taken to look at them.

Dudley Council estimates it will spend around £1.2billion in the next 30 years on repairing all its council housing. Currently there are around 22,000 council homes.