Can i just say i''m rather angry!

[Lord Summerisle]

Life imitates art....

In the Hitchhikers Guide... the council plan to knock Arthur Dents home down, but dont tell him....


Well.....




Rossendale council plans to knock down the area to start again... only they havn''ttold anyone about it

excuse me but KIN TANKERS!

yep.. just found out that they plan to knock down our house.. street and area within the next 5-10 years... and since this is now planned.. we aint goona be able to move (not that we plan to) until they come with the compulsary purchase order - since our house and ever ones else is effectivly worthless.

understadably the area is rather annoyed!

i say again fookin twonkers...

i can not express how ANGRY i am at the moment.

 

[Patty]

Oh I don''t blame you for being angry!

Like you said, there is no way you can sell it now that peeps know it''s gonna be razed.

 

[diamondlil]

How awful! I was reading about this sort of thing in an newspaper article recently. Is it possible for the people in your area to fight the eminent domain proceedings?

DiamondLil

 

[Lord Summerisle]

hopefully yeah, its going to require the community to fight the plans all the way through from these inital ''ideas'' (tho they say these are what they ARE gonna be doing.) throught the planning stage, and then after that fight the ''compulsary purchase order''

simply put they want to knock down 2 miles of 160 year old houses to make way for new crappily built houses under the guise of ''eco housing''

rip out the existing community and attempt to create a new community.. while ignoring hte lessions of the 60''s social engineering which created gettos which are now being ripped down again to revert to what was there before.

This is a tight nit area... with alot of charator... and..

well im lost for words.

 

[hoorray]

WOW! I''ve heard of this for highways and public things that need to happen, but I''ve not heard of it for more housing! I''d be incredibly angry, and fight with all my will. I''m sorry to hear about your plight Lord S. I hope you can fight it off or at least get a more than fair settlement (even tho that is not enough for losing your home...) Good luck.

 

[Kaleigh]

My best wishes to you too, I know it sucks and hopefully you and your community can do something about it. This is going on in a town near us that is quite historic and they want to tear everything down and start fresh, much to the dismay of many homeowners and business''. It''s being fought tooth and nail. Pretty ugly, get together with people and hire a good attorney. I wish you the best of luck, keep us posted on what is happening.

 

[JohnQuixote]

M''Lord.

If I had an army, navy and air force at my disposal they would be at your service.

Life throws curveballs. I am certain you & Lady Caroline will face this challenge, determine the correct course of action and make your decisions count. Meanwhile, while this cloud o''erhangs you, know that your friends are with you in spirit - and confident that in the end you''ll wind up on top. That''s who you are.

I''d like to imagine the cup half (or more) full - wherein perhaps your compensation will be greater than you dared dream... Then you will buy a Sarin/Helium, acquire a store front and a staff and open your own GB Diamond Outlet that will ''rock'' Europe!

Meanwhile...

Date: 5/14/2005 7:00:56 PM
Author:Lord Summerisle

i say again fookin twonkers...

No one, M''Lord... but NO one could have said that better.

Your friend,

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Sounds like you need to turn an annoyance of grand proportions into an opportunity Lord S.

Maybe there are some other entrepuenerial types about to be disposed and maybe a few of you can pool resources and do something imaginitve?
get together at the local pub and have a brainstorming session? (Oh, sorry - forgot - Poms cant do that? - maybe you can rent some Aussies from Earls court to come down for the weekend and do the brain storming

)

 

[Rhino]

Sorry to hear about this Lord S. There is a silver lining in this somewhere, I know it.

 

[Lord Summerisle]

Date: 5/14/2005 11:43:53 PM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)
get together at the local pub and have a brainstorming session? (Oh, sorry - forgot - Poms cant do that? - maybe you can rent some Aussies from Earls court to come down for the weekend and do the brain storming

)

Very true brits cant ''brainstorm''

We are no longer allowed to use the phrase "brainstorm", as it is offensive to epileptics. The new phrase we are to use is ''thought-showers''

I kid ye not!


And thanks guys,

Yep planning on getting everyone involved (plus all the shops & pubs are on this side of the road to be demolished.
First things first it to tell everyone.. as the only annoucements have been about knocking a old deralict building in the town centre for more car parking. so it a letter drop to hte residents, plus organise meetings and getting a plan of action together.

 

[tanuki]

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the abuse of eminent domain this term.

This sort of stuff is going on in the U.S. as well.

Whenever the local government thinks they can make a deal to build something that can generate more tax dollars on a property than what the property is paying now they can declare the area ''blighted" and force the residents who may not have taken the developer''s offer to move out.

This is being abused by developers who want to build hi-rise condominiums on land occupied by a single family home so even if the home is well maintained and the residents have lived there for 30 years they declare it blighted. Perhaps the property has a good view or a good location. That''s all it takes to find yourself in the bulls-eye.

Lots of publicity to inflame the community, legal pressure on the local politicians (who are likely being paid off by the developers) and lawsuits are the only recourse.

This started in the US when private railroad companies wanted to build railroad tracks across the American west and a few holdout ranchers wouldn''t sell them the right of way. They owned the politicians. So the precedent was set for using eminiet domain to benefit private companies. It''s been going on here for over a hundred years. Eminent Domain was used to condemn neighborhoods in lower Manhattan so the World Trade Center could be constructed.

But communities can be successful. There was once a plan to tear down Greenwich Village to build a freeway but the residents fought it and won.

Interestingly, the right wing radio talk shows here in the US act like abuse of eminent domain is a "liberal" idea. Yeah, those "liberal" railroad barons.

 

[MissAva]

Oh Lord S. I am just so sorry! I dont know how we can help and that is no good. Perhaps an international letter writing campain? I hope that things work out for you.

 

[Buena Girl]

Date: 5/15/2005 7:52:22 AM
Author: tanuki
legal pressure on the local politicians

I don''t know how these things are done where you live, but in my area there are public meetings held and the plans are presented to the public. If you go to one of these meetings, please be kind to the people there.

I know that you will be very upset, but it will be highly unlikely that any of them had anything to do with the decision to destroy your home. Usually those are the people with little to no power or decision and are just there to present the designs they were hired to do. I would think it would be best to look for loopholes and try to get things worked out politically ASAP.

 

[strmrdr]

That sux :{
Happens all the time over here too.
Make them fight for it.

 

[Lord Summerisle]

Stage one complete: website now up (but only 2 pages on ATM... awaiting new domain to kick in and i can be uploading much of the other pages which geocities cant run) - Save
Stage two complete: letter to local paper sent off
Stage three: in progress - getting 1000 leaflets to inform other residents of the plan + who to write too
Stage four: in progress - writting to local council in charge of plan, local councillor and MP
Stage five: residents meeting to be set up...

 

[laughinggravy]

Sounds like you''re hitting the ground running, well done.

It''s a horrible feeling of powerlessnes, but these decisions do get revoked. I used to be a local journalist in North Wales and covered a story like yours. Local press can be quite helpful, they''re usually only too desperate to find a good front page lead.

It''s a question of making the goahead just impossible in the face of public opposition and to do that you''ll have to get a wider area involved. Hence the local press. Also, see if you can''t dig up some romantic fact concerning the history of the area or the lives of those who lived in one of the houses. See if you''ve got anyone around who''s house has been in their family for generations. Anything to attract public imagination. The more people who start talking about the situation the more likely the council will not risk courting unpopularity.

Go down to the library or check if the local press will let you look at their archives. see if you can''t find some evocative images of the 20/30s First WW, 2cnd WW - force people''s attention to the fact that it''s their history the council want to bin, not just bricks and mortar.

Don''t depend on the local''s outrage changing anyone''s mind. Get as wide an audience as possible involved. Got any talented amateur/prof photographers/artists in the area? Start taking images and putting them on the web site, life style under threat.

Finally, can''t you lay your hands on any newts? Actually, quite seriously, remember the newts that stopped the M whatever-it-was from being built? It''s illegal to demolish a bat''s roost for example. Any urbanised rarities hanging around?

Very, very best of luck. I love that late Victorian architecture. My parents live in a late Vic semi in Brighton. They''re superbly built houses and it is vandalism to tear them down. Even if they are getting tired and need rennovation, it would be cheaper to give out grants for rennovation than tear down and put faceless junk in their place.

Fight the good fight and good luck.

 

[Lord Summerisle]

Date: 5/16/2005 9:16:33 AM
Author: laughinggravy
Sounds like you''re hitting the ground running, well done.

It''s a horrible feeling of powerlessnes, but these decisions do get revoked. I used to be a local journalist in North Wales and covered a story like yours. Local press can be quite helpful, they''re usually only too desperate to find a good front page lead.

It''s a question of making the goahead just impossible in the face of public opposition and to do that you''ll have to get a wider area involved. Hence the local press. Also, see if you can''t dig up some romantic fact concerning the history of the area or the lives of those who lived in one of the houses. See if you''ve got anyone around who''s house has been in their family for generations. Anything to attract public imagination. The more people who start talking about the situation the more likely the council will not risk courting unpopularity.

Go down to the library or check if the local press will let you look at their archives. see if you can''t find some evocative images of the 20/30s First WW, 2cnd WW - force people''s attention to the fact that it''s their history the council want to bin, not just bricks and mortar.

Don''t depend on the local''s outrage changing anyone''s mind. Get as wide an audience as possible involved. Got any talented amateur/prof photographers/artists in the area? Start taking images and putting them on the web site, life style under threat.

Finally, can''t you lay your hands on any newts? Actually, quite seriously, remember the newts that stopped the M whatever-it-was from being built? It''s illegal to demolish a bat''s roost for example. Any urbanised rarities hanging around?

Very, very best of luck. I love that late Victorian architecture. My parents live in a late Vic semi in Brighton. They''re superbly built houses and it is vandalism to tear them down. Even if they are getting tired and need rennovation, it would be cheaper to give out grants for rennovation than tear down and put faceless junk in their place.

Fight the good fight and good luck.

cheers LG.

there is already the local history website

We''ll be applying to English Heratiage for listed building status, plus apply for the cultrual heritage status... but that is an application to the local council for that one... but still councils dont work cohesivly! so that may be a chance

 

[Diamonds4Me]

That''s just awful. I hope that you kick their butts!

Great website too.