OAPs' homes come under threat from building work (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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OAPs' homes come under threat from building work
2:28pm Monday 3rd December 2007 in Local By Chris Gregory
Residents of Malmesbury Field, in Brighton Hill, Basingstoke, whose homes are under threat due to planned redevelopment of the sheltered housing scheme
ELDERLY residents are worried that they could lose their homes if the redevelopment of their sheltered housing scheme gets the green light.
HVHS Housing Group will meet with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council tomorrow to discuss plans for the 27 studio flats and 12 one-bedroomed flats at Malmesbury Field, in Stanford Road, Brighton Hill, Basingstoke.
The accommodation has to be improved to meet the Government's Decent Homes Standard.
However, there is no guarantee that any of the current 39 residents will be able to move back in after the work has been completed.
Debbie Down, HVHS marketing executive, said: "We cannot say whether residents will return to Malmesbury Field until the planning application has been drawn up. The process is at a very early stage."
It is thought that any building work would not begin for at least a year.
Residents were told of the plans to redevelop at a meeting on November 20.
Kit Kemp, 89, moved from Bracknell to Malmesbury Field with her husband Vic, 91, to be closer to her children in Basingstoke.
She said she spent £1,000 redecorating their flat after a hip operation last year meant that she rarely goes out.
She blamed the Government's Decent Homes Standard for the upheaval.
She said: "Vic served in the war and I worked on munitions. They are treating us very badly. Most of us have lived here for years and it is a happy community."
Trevor Woodget, minister at Basingstoke Baptist Church, attended the meeting with his father Sidney, who only moved into the scheme this year. He said he feared for the residents, many of whom are more than 90 years old.
He said: "There is a sense of anxiety about, and looking around the room at the meeting, I could see that residents were seriously upset about it."
Mrs Down said: "We will be working very closely with the residents and their families to identify whether they wish to remain in the borough or take the opportunity to move closer to family members that may live elsewhere."
She said that residents will receive financial support for the move and will be entitled to a minimum statutory £4,000 compensation.
