The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over gain, and expecting different results"
Albert Einstein
Pathfinder is the name given to the embodiment of a series of policies aimed at preventing housing market collapse in nine urban areas around England, otherwise known as the Housing Market Renewal Initiative (HMRI). It represents a massive investment of public money, £1.2bn up to 2008, in the future of these areas. It should be a huge opportunity for the heritage of these areas. Instead,it is shaping up to be a complete disaster.
Between 100,000 and 400,000 pre-1919 terraced houses face clearance. It is the return of the clean sweep, the mass clearances of the fifties and sixties from which we all assumed the lessons had been learned - the buildings are notthe cause of the problems.
The policy is overseen at a national level by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It is put into practice by Pathfinder organisations, one for each of the nine Pathfinder areas, and the local authorities within these areas administer it. Consequently,and not surprisingly,methods,standards and solutions vary wildlyacross the areas.
The most notable common denominator of all Pathfinder areas is the disproportionately high level of Registered Social Landlord ("RSL") or Council socially rented properties within their boundaries.Any housing market is a dynamic evolving entity seeking equilibrium based on many factors.These social landlords are simply unable to respond as would private sector landlords or normal homeowners.
Perfectly decent historic houses are being condemned on the basis of ten minute external surveys in a blatant abuse of the powers granted under the Housing Act. Householders are being forced out of their beloved homes following minimal and often misinformed consultations.The provisions of the new Compulsory Purchase Act actually serve to make this easier. The options for those evicted include buying a more expensive new house, built by the private sector with Government subsidy.
The basic premise behind HMRI / Pathfinder is that there is an excess of housing (and in particular, terraced housing) in Pathfinder areas.The evidence for the possible collapse of the housing markets (the justification for the demolition policy) is based on information up to and over five years old.Worse still, stable and sustainable communities are being savagely blighted through the declaration
of clearance areas.
In addition to the enormous and wasteful public subsidy allocated to Pathfinders, it is also funded by exploitation of the Marriage Value between the value of a development site encumbered with properties, deliberately managed for decline, and the ultimate value of the same site, unencumbered and cleared ready for development.
Demolition has become the first resort when it should be the last. All too often it is chosen simply because it appears the easy option despite the anguish it will cause to local people.
There are numerous examples of what can be done, if needed, to upgrade terraced housing, from Urban Splash's proposals in Manchester through to the work of the Heritage Trust for the North West.Terraced housing also provides a readily available supply of cheap housing to those normally unable to afford their own places to live.
The massive funds available through Pathfinder can be better spent on long term repair, rehabilitation and management of historic areas and their social problems. It is the underlying poverty that needs to be addressed, rather than clearing homes and moving the problems on to another area.The much trumpeted link between demolishing homes and improving lives is a myth.
SAVE is not opposed to the potential investment in the building stock that Pathfinder represents, but to its lax interpretation by local authorities and the return to the mass clearances of the past.
ABANDONMENT is not the abandonment of houses by people but is the abandonment of areas and communities by the local authority. Once again it is the poorest members of society who are being hit hardest.
