‘We’ve built our lives around these flats and they’re being destroyed’
Residents of four tower blocks threatened with demolition tell Nick Statham how losing their homes will be a devastating blow
THE Seven Sisters tower blocks have dominated the Rochdale skyline for five decades. The landmark College Bank flats, which loom over the town centre, are seen as iconic by some, but are an eyesore to others.
Built in the late 60s and early 70s, they were originally sought after by young professionals. But over the years they have gained an unwelcome reputation as a sink estate, with high levels of deprivation.
But for those who live there they are simply ‘home’ – the place where they feel comfortable, settled and a sense of belonging.
Yet tenants of ‘The Big Four’ blocks – Mitchell Hey, Dunkirk Rise, Tentercroft and Town Mill Brow – are facing an uncertain future, with the 19-storey flats facing demolition under Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s (RBH) regeneration masterplan.
RBH says repairing the blocks would be too expensive, push up management fees and only serve as a shortterm fix – but have pledged that anyone who wishes to stay in the area will be able to.
At present a supplementary planning document (SPD), which would guide redevelopment of College Bank and nearby Lower Falinge, has been put out to public consultation by Rochdale council.
Setting out a vision for a mix of ‘new and improved homes,’ extra footpaths, cycle lanes and leisure facilities, it also proposes knocking down four of the Seven Sisters – which house a total of 480 flats –to make way for 120 new homes.
And for many who live in the threatened tower blocks, the prospect of losing their homes is nothing short of ‘terrifying.’
A group of tenants – all members of Save The Seven Sisters campaign – have gathered in Audrey Middleton’s homely first-floor flat in Mitchell Hey to tell of their concerns. Among them is former Rochdale Mayor Robin Parker, who lives on the ninth floor of Dunkirk Rise.
Donning a Save The Seven Sisters T-shirt, the 74-year-old widower says the prospect of having to leave the flat he shared with late wife Linda fills him with dread.
“We want this decision reversed as soon as possible, because then we have alleviated the stress. It affects your mental health, it’s on your mind in the day and sometimes at night as well, because you are awake thinking about it,” he says.
“It’s terrifying me now, moving at the age of 74, looking at packing up a lifetime of possessions. It’s my retirement home, I can’t do things like I used to. I was mayor of the borough and everything else – but that doesn’t mean I’m any less terrified than anyone else.”
But along with other College Bank residents – 600 of whom signed a petition against the plans – he is determined to ‘fight the proposals all the way,’ branding them ‘the wrong thing to do.’ Robin – who served as mayor in 2008/09 – says there are many things in the SPD and masterplan which he welcomes, including environmental improvements, better access and a new pedestrian crossing over to the town centre. But he ‘seriously questions’ the need to drop the four tower blocks. Robin claims the proposals are driven by financial concerns – access to grants and lower maintenance fees – instead of the welfare of residents. “It’s about greed and money, it’s not about people. They say it’s about people, but it isn’t,” he says. Tenants claim there is little wrong structurally with The Seven Sisters and that only a moderate amount of renovation, as well as good basic maintenance, is needed to keep them in good condition for years to come.
But RBH, in a statement last year, said it is a ‘myth’ that the flats are in good condition – and said that rent receipts do not cover the cost of managing and maintaining them.
Robin says the perception of the flats, which are sometimes mocked as a hotbed of drug addicts and benefits claimants, is wide of the mark.
“The fact there are so many empty car parking spaces outside is because so many people are in work – this isn’t an estate for people who are on benefits by any means – but that’s the perception.”
Mark Slater lives in Mardyke – one of the three blocks not earmarked for demolition – but he has lived in others over the years and staunchly opposes the proposals to knock down any of the ‘sisters’
“I think it would have a drastic effect,” he says.
“My viewpoint is that every one of these blocks is a community in itself. There is a mix of people, but a lot of people are socially vulnerable and need people to speak up for them, otherwise their lives are going to be turned upside down by this.
“There are retired people, people with mental health (issues) and people are dependent on this location for all the social services. Unless someone stands up for this group of people, their lives are going to be totally destroyed.
“Some people have lived in these flats all their lives. Can you imagine being forced to go to another estate you didn’t really want to go to?”
And – over tea and biscuits provided by Audrey – Mark speaks movingly about the tower blocks he sees as his home and his community.
“Your lives revolve around these flats – I can see where I went for my first job, my first school, the hospital I was born in, where my dad used to live; he’s passed away now.
I want to stop here, I am stopping here. They will have to drag me out – I’m not going to go Resident Beryl Maguire
“This is my life and I can see it from this block of flats. You build your lives around these flats and everybody certainly the long-term tenants – has a similar story.”
Kath Thomas, who lives on the 16th floor of Dunkirk Rise, is also part of the Save the Seven Sisters campaign.
The 66-year-old says that, were her block to be demolished, she would not be able to afford somewhere of a similar size or standard with the money she would receive for it – and, being retired, a mortgage would not be an option.
“I feel very angry about it,” says the former nurse and foster carer – who describes her flat as ‘lovely.’
“If there was a need to knock them down I could understand it, but there are people in these flats that have different levels of health.
“But if you were to get those flats and lay them out on a street grid you would only have the same number of people with the same mix of problems – it’s like a street in the sky.”
And she says she is reluctant to carry out work to her flat as she does not know how much longer she can expect to live there.
“It could be 15 to 20 years, or it could be sooner – but we could be here in 15 years’ time talking about the same thing.”
Couple Alan Healey and Margaret Cigna, also of Dunkirk Rise, are also worried about having to leave the ‘nice, lovely’ flat where they though they would spend the rest of their lives after moving in in 2000.
“It’s stressful because it’s uncertain,” says Margaret. “We don’t know if we should move or if we should stay. Should we move now, in our 70s, or will we be forced to move in our 80s?”
And Alan, a semi-retired electrician, said: “I think it’s disgusting.
“We have purchased it (in 2005) in our 60s and our plan was this is where we will stay for the rest of our lives. We have renovated the flat and spent quite a lot of money on it and now they come and tell us they are going to knock it down.”
Beryl Maguire is 83 – but she says she won’t be leaving her Dunkirk Rise flat without an almighty fight.
“I don’t want them knocked down, I love where I am, really love it. When I’m coming back off my holidays, come off the motorway and see The Seven Sisters, I love it. I want to stop here, I am stopping here.
“They will have to drag me out – I’m not going to go!”
The widow says she has never been ill but has recently found the stress of the situation ‘getting her down’ to the point she has had to see a doctor.
Audrey Middlehurst, also a widow, says she also has no desire to leave her flat in Mitchell Hey – her home since 1988.
“Now my husband Bob isn’t here it’s very convenient for me, being on my own,” said the 83-year-old.
“I have lots of friends around here and it’s very convenient for trams and trains and I have a garage, it’s just very convenient for me – and I enjoy my flat, like Beryl does.”
Last month, a spokesman for RBH said the charity would support all tenants affected by the proposals as they progress.
They said: “We would not expect all households to move at the same time and, as we are doing in Lower Falinge, households living in College Bank would be rehoused in small phases as we build new homes.”