Read Part 1 click here
Part 2: After the Salford Star was launched...
After the Salford Star started, pretty much all of what happened in Higher Broughton in the Top Streets has been documented. A search in the Star archive of 'Top Streets', Vincent Street, 'Cardiff Street' will give links to most of it.
Salford Council evicting us from Hampshire Street scared a lot of people in the Top Streets. They seemed too scared to say anything, even to the Star. Maybe they were partly right, knowing how vindictive the Council can be.
I have not voted for Labour for twenty years and would not consider voting for them again until such a time as they apologise for the Pathfinder scheme. I feel pretty much the same about John Prescott as I did about Thatcher. I hope that Pathfinder is remembered for the damage it did to people's lives, their physical and mental health, and for the impact it had on them financially.
The then Leader of Salford Council, John Merry, always asserted that the Council was doing people a favour and rescuing them. This is similar to taking your foot off the head of a man who is drowning after you've thrown him in the water.
Regeneration is supposed to benefit the people living in an area, but generally it doesn't. As someone who went through it, I'd say 'All that you did, you shouldn't have done to me. But most of all you shouldn't have done it to anybody'. What did these people do to offend you? Did you make their lives better?
There was a bloke in Wiltshire Street was working away and his house got vandalised. He ended up selling it to the Council for £8,000. Then there was the woman, also from Wiltshire Street, where she'd lived all her life but had to find a flat at the age of 82. Another person had a nervous breakdown months after having to move.
There was a bloke in Vincent Street whose doctor told him to leave his house or the the stress would kill him.. There was a woman in Vincent Street who died and the house got wrecked. One of her sons was in tears as he asked me to contact the Council and try to the offer raised by a few thousand pounds. There was another bloke who lived at the end of Vincent Street who eventually gave up and moved to Yorkshire. He got £22,000 for his house. I helped him get his stuff packed for moving and he was really upset to be giving up his house.
A woman in Hampshire Street got £10,000 for her house and they wouldn't let her take her cupboards out of the kitchen even though they were going to demolish the house, f*k's sake! There was Winnie from Hampshire Street, who bought a house in Turner Street after the Council told people those streets were stopping up. She had to move again a few years later and died about a month after moving.
There were a few old couples who just wanted the area to be nice and see out their last few years together. I know of one couple from Turner Street and one from Cardiff Street who went through years of crap before finally moving. The second couple got £42,000 for their house.
Some of them didn't even live long enough to move. A nice old bloke called Bert, who had been part of the residents group, both him and his wife died while waiting for things to happen. 'Maltese Mike', who wasn't actually Maltese, plus his wife and daughter all died within the space of a year.
There was the woman from Cardiff Street who wanted to move to Trafford as she had family there. She was told she would get the £25,000 relocation grant, only to be told four days...four days!...before she was due to move that she couldn't have it. She had to get another £25,000 on her mortgage.
These are just some of the things that people went through in the name of 'regeneration' in the area. Labour should look back at the Pathfinder scheme and think about these people.
There is a quote by Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek Insurrection. I think it sums it up..."But some of the darkest chapters in the history of my world involved the forced relocation of a small group of people to satisfy the demands of a large one. I'd hoped that we had learned from our mistakes but it seems some of us haven't..."
* In 2011 the Salford Star called for an Independent Inquiry into the Pathfinder project click here to read the full feature
Salford Council Admits 'Injury to physical and mental wellbeing' as a Result of Higher Broughton Regeneration click here
Salford Star Tracks the Assassination of a Community click here
Previous articles on the Salford Star Closure...
Salford Star To Close After 15 Years click here
The Star Is Born click here
Alice's Story: Injustice From South Africa to Salford click here
Salford Stars Part 1 click here
Salford Stars Part 2 click here
Real Salford Heritage - Inside The Cliff Man United Training Ground - click here
The Battle of Barton Moss click here
Nigel Pivaro Looks Back Over 15 Years of the Star click here
Planning Scandals and the Affordable Housing Crisis - click here
Campaigns, demos and protests click here
Guy Griffiths on the Pathfinder Demolitions - click here
What's Left and What's Worth Saving in Salford - click here
Eight Happenings That Encapsulate Salford: Part 1 click here
Eight Happenings That Encapsulate Salford: Part 2 click here
How Salford City Council Tried To Stop The Star - click here
How Salford City Council Tried to Block and Discredit The Star click here
The Salford Star Closes After 15 Years of Attitude and Love xxx - click here
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