On yer bike! The cycle path plan set to oust family af ter 49 years
A FAMILY who have lived in their home for almost half a century are being forced to move out so it can be demolished – to make way for a cycle path.
The council house has been part of Lesley Austin’s family for 49 years and has been home to three generations.
But it is to be bulldozed as part of the redevelopment of an A road.
Mrs Austin, 47, and her husband Richie, 52, who have two children, realised their home would be knocked down when it did not appear in an artist’s impression of the council’s plan.
She said: ‘I really don’t grasp why demolishing a house and changing the road is going to make any difference.
‘I’m not moving of my own free will. It’s a big, quirky old house and I’m going to have to get rid of things that mean a lot to me.
‘I don’t want to lose it and I will fight tooth and nail to keep it but I think it’s a case of it already being passed and they’re just waiting for funding.’
Mrs Austin said there had been rumours about the plans for a couple of years, but she was horrified when the council finally unveiled its proposals.
The healthcare assistant claimed the scheme for the A68 by their home in Darlington, Co Durham, was not needed because there was no traffic problem.
She added: ‘The council are trying to send us to the other end of town with the houses they’ve offered. We could have left this property years ago but we choose to live in this area.
‘It’s close to work for me, close to the roads. I don’t want to move out of the area.’
Darlington Council said several other ‘suitable’ council homes had been offered to the Austin family.
Councillor Andy Keir, cabinet member for local services, said: ‘The decision to demolish a residential building is never taken lightly, but the constraints on space available in this area mean that if the proposed designs do go ahead, it will be necessary.
‘We are mindful that the tenant is being asked to vacate their longterm home. However, suitable alternatives have been offered.’ ÷Residents and farmers face compulsory purchase orders to allow energy firm Sunnica to build a 2,792-acre solar farm on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border – Britain’s biggest, powering 100,000 homes. But locals are angry at the prospect of having their property taken from them, The Sunday Telegraph reported.