Warburton Hey Site for Redevelopment

Helena Housing has agreed to a £21 million redevelopment of the town centre estate. The whole of Rainhill Village is set to benefit and be revitalised by the build of modern housing on the site which will consist of a mix of "to let" and "to buy" homes. 167 flats will be demolished in planned stages and all residents will be regularly consulted and updated on progress by public meetings and newsletters.

The blocks of flats on the Warburton Hey site have been an eyesore for a number of years and existing accommodation is not of a quality consistent with Helena Housing standards. We know that a small minority of residents have lived there for many years (and enjoy living there) but there has been an extremely high turnover of persons letting recently and the flats are becoming less attractive to potential residents.

We have seen increases in anti-social behaviour in the area and only 12 months ago Helena in partnership with the local police made an estate wide survey of the properties and land. Five potentially abandoned properties were discovered (giro drops), several illegal cars were found and areas of vandalism were noted. Further regular visits were promised.

Labour councillor Joe DeAsha, who holds regular surgeries at the Labour Club across from the flats, has most experience of the issues of the area through regular complaints from residents. He said, "This is an exciting project which we fully support. We have seen the accommodation on this estate deteriorate in recent years and believe the residents deserve a better quality of life".

posted by Cllr. Steve Glover at 3:00 pm