Councils in the West Midlands are to bid for up to £48m from the regional housing board to refurbish 1400 homes built for miners by the National Coal Board.

Local authorities in North Warwickshire and South Staffordshire are to bid for the funding on the strength of research compiled by consultant Ecotec last July.

The research covered 1400 homes on eight estates in six local authority areas – Cannock Chase, Lichfield, Nuneaton & Bedworth, Tamworth, South Staffordshire and North Warwickshire.

All the homes were built by the Coal Board in the 1950s and 1960s to house miners but have since transferred into the ownership of sitting tenants, the local authorities or private landlords.

Steve Clark, assistant director for housing of North Warwickshire council, said: “We wanted the research to take into account the quality-of-life issues on these estates such as health, employment, transport and education.”

The research found many of the homes were made using non-traditional construction methods, and are in poor condition having been built with only a limited lifespan in mind.

As the estates were built to serve coal mines, some are in isolated areas, which caused housing problems to be dispersed across the region. In terms of both rental and ownership, estates had become “places of last resort”.

Most of the cash will be used to bring the properties up to the decent homes standard, with other money used to carry out environmental improvements on the estates.

Source

Housing Today