26th Jan 2006

Press Release - IMMEDIATE


SAVE’s rebuttal of ODPM’s response to the SAVE report on Pathfinder
ODPM has accused SAVE of "scaremongering  and its report of being "nonsense"

SAVE deals in facts


1.         ODPM claim: "SAVE is not interested in helping local communities"

SAVE fact:
SAVE is actively assisting local communities fighting for their homes in a number of clearance areas - for example
Edge Lane, Liverpool
Welsh Streets, Liverpool
Darwen, East Lancs
Nelson, East Lancs
Goole, Yorks
Gresham, Middlesborough


2.  ODPM claim: "In a small number of areas refurbishment alone cannot solve the problem"

SAVE fact:
  1. It is not a small number of areas affected by the threat of demolition, at present it is a great many.
  2. The market has moved on significantly in these areas, including the Welsh Streets in Liverpool, where if the Registered Social Landlord’s stranglehold was released, the market would pick up the houses.


3.         ODPM claim: "It is nonsense that destruction at current rates will see 168,000 houses demolished by 2016"

SAVE fact:
Paragraph 9.19 of the ODPM endorsed document, "Moving Forward The Northern Way" gives the figure of 167,000 houses to be demolished, and calls for more to be demolished.


4.          ODPM claim: "Pathfinders proposals are drawn up on the basis of up-to-date market intelligence"

SAVE fact:
This ignores the accusation that numerous buildings have been condemned on the basis of five minute external surveys, later proved to be fallacious through full surveys by qualified surveyors. It also ignores the fact that the recent uplift in house prices makes repair economically viable, as the houses are now worth more than the cost or repair (and conversely cost more to repair).
  1. ODPM claim: "It is ridiculous to suggest that Registered Social Landlords have deliberately run down neighbourhoods and there is no evidence to back this up"

SAVE fact:
On the ground it is clear that RSL domination of certain areas has dragged the area down. Bootle in Merseyside is a spectacular example, with hundreds of RSL owned houses boarded up, and in one place an entire RSL owned terrace demolished, with the exception of one house in the middle, which is privately owned and occupied - real intimidation.

Another example is the deliberate boarding of up properties in the Kensington and Newsham Park area of Liverpool, by RSLs and the local authority, in anticipation of eventual Pathfinder funded development opportunities. The market would pick up these houses if it had the opportunity.
  1. ODPM claim: "SAVE claim that Registered Social Landlords are commercial organisations motivated by greed or profit"

SAVE fact:
SAVE has not made this claim, rather SAVE has pointed out that those who will benefit most, in particular from the "marriage value  (the difference between the value of a run down area of housing against the value of the same site cleared in anticipation of redevelopment) are the house builders, not the local communities.


7.         ODPM claim: "Registered Social Landlords are clearly accountable to the Housing Corporation"

        SAVE fact:
In theory, this may be the case. Reality is different. A recent Housing Corporation inquiry into alleged breaches of the Housing Corporation code by RSLs who operate in the neighbourhoods around Newsham Park and Kensington in Liverpool failed to address adequately many of the matters raised in the original complaints. The Housing Corporation’s investigator is a board member of the New Heartlands Pathfinder.


8.        ODPM claim: "£168 million spent on consultancies: this is not a figure we recognise"

SAVE fact:
The Rt Hon. Lord Rooker, the then Minister for Regeneration and Regional Development at ODPM stated in his February 2005 evidence to the ODPM Parliamentary Committee, in answer to a question on how much as been spent on consultants: "At the moment it is £165 million".
  1. ODPM claim: "Housing market renewal is a deliberately devolved policy because local residents and stakeholders are best placed to decide on what is needed"

SAVE fact:
There are cases where local residents are being ignored. The Edge lane in Liverpool is a prime example of this, where the Pathfinder gave the figure of 51% of the occupants being in favour of demolition and new build. That figure in fact relates to the small percentage of the total respondents who were considering moving in the next five years (26%) - ie 13% were in favour. This is typical of the manipulation of figures.


For full details of the ODPM’s response see
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1163278