Clive Walder, Birmingham Socialist Party
Hundreds of people were locked out of a Birmingham City Council public meeting on 20 July, called to present local residents with proposals for the complete demolition and rebuilding of the Ladywood estate, in one of Birmingham’s poorest districts. The project will cost £2.2 billion and take at least 20 years. Eventually a speaker was provided so that the meeting could be heard in the car park.
Residents were angry. Owner occupiers have been threatened with Compulsory Purchase Orders if they don’t reach an individual agreement with the council on the sale price of their property.
The developer specialises in city centre redevelopment, and its proposals will increase the number of houses from 1,968 to 7,531. Residents quite rightly question where all the land will come from to provide so many more houses. All the developer and the council have said is that they will be built to current space standards.
Many people feel that the poor design and energy inefficiency of the estate is being used as an excuse for social cleansing. The developer’s two other Birmingham projects have no properties cheaper than £290,000. Also, only 20% of the houses will be designated as ‘affordable’, despite council policy saying that at least 35% should be.
Local Labour councillors and the local MP were held in contempt by those present and accused of ignoring constituents’ concerns. The MP is Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator!
Local councillors only knew of the details of the development in the last two weeks; before that, council officers had been in secret negotiations with developers. Negotiations over purchase prices of privately owned properties will start soon. Residents will need to be organised to prevent being swindled and an action group has already been set up to advise people of their rights.
Labour has completely failed poor inner-city residents like those in Ladywood. A new workers’ party fighting for council housing to meet needs, not cosying up to profit-hungry developers, is what is desperately needed to prevent the further disappearance of housing for working-class people.
