The chairman of Fishermead Residents’ Association has spoken of his relief that his estate was not chosen for regeneration by Milton Keynes Council.
Terry Baines has criticised the council’s possible regeneration of estates in Milton Keynes, while also insisting they are only ‘pie-in-the-sky’ ideas at present.
But he also spoke of his relief about Fishermead not being one of the seven estates earmarked for regeneration.
He said: “If you look at Conniburrow it’s a similar estate to Fishermead but a lot of the others aren’t. Fishermead is primarily brick built and it’s in a reasonably good condition.
“Two years ago I went into a house on Netherfield and I saw damp, very poor condition of the outside building too.”
But Mr Baines isn’t a fan of regeneration and doesn’t think he is the only one.
“If they actually got on the ground and did a referendum per estate they would say ‘butt out’,” he said.
“My estate isn’t involved and thank god. My residents are very relieved.”
The seven estates listed for regeneration are: Beanhill, Coffee Hall, Fullers Slade, Lakes Estate, Netherfield, North Bradville and Tinkers Bridge.
Why the estates were chosen
Partly because of the high numbers of council-owned homes in the areas which are deemed to be in a poor state of repair.
Many of the homes in the areas aren’t brick-built, unlike in estates such as Fishermead and Conniburrow.
The council has also looked at how many people in the area are unemployed and need employment-related skills.
The life expectancy in some estates is more than 10 years less than in others, so the council feel they need to do something to bring the expectancy up in these areas.
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