The path to follow

Back in the 1960s, a group of us in the Ministry of Housing set out to explore the area improvement alternative. We have, after 40 years, just revisited the test site, east of Manchester. It’s doing rather well, thank you!

In fact, satisfaction ratings are running at 89%.

One of our number still talks about her Damascene conversion, when she first realised that narrow roads, doors that opened onto the street and no real gardens were not a handicap. It is helpful, of course, that the local authority concerned has filled in the years with a lot of work and a caring, thoughtful approach. This has resulted in rising house prices and a vibrant Pakistani community that has expressed its own commitment by building a mosque.

We have here ready-built starter homes in a starter community, and it seemed to us very important that this should continue, and continue to be funded. We will be writing up what we found, but I thought your readers should know now that not all pathfinders need be gloom and disaster.