Welcome to the first Your Place – Shadsworth newsletter. We’ll be using this to keep you up-todate on everything we’re doing on your estate. You may hear us talk about ‘Placeshaping’ and that’s because this is more than investing in bricks and mortar. It’s about working with you to make your area a place where you and others want to live – there’s more about how we see this in this newsletter.
In this newsletter:
• Introducing Kath Reeves
• What you’ve told us
• What we’re doing around the park
• An update on our plans for some properties
Shaping Shad
Everyone on Shadsworth knows that the place is about more than just the houses or the people; it’s how it feels to live on, work on or visit the estate. A place is shaped by all of these things and much more. Shadsworth isn’t just our properties, it’s your community. We want to invest in the whole space.
Because it’s your community we started the process by asking you what was important to you. We held online and face-to-face sessions, visited schools and did an online survey. You told us:
• It’s important how the space on Shadsworth is used; parking, footpaths etc.
• The park was really important to you.
• You want investment in tidying up some houses, hedges and green spaces.
• You’d like different types of houses that would provide for families who wanted to live on Shadsworth.
• That young people, especially older teenagers, need more space where they could get involved in activities.
For that reason, we’ve decided to focus our investment on what you wanted. We’ve already talked of our plans to re-develop the park, build a new community hub and build new houses on empty spaces on the estate.
We also investigated whether we could remodel some vacant properties on Staffa Crescent to showcase what remodelling would look like. Unfortunately, it turned out that remodelling these types of property wouldn’t work and we knew many other properties on the estate were of that type.
Therefore, our plans to do remodelling across the estate needed to change. Bringing the vacant properties back up to standard would do nothing to change the estate, so we decided to demolish them. As there were only four vacant properties, this would leave a gap on Staffa Crescent that didn’t look great but wouldn’t give us enough space to explore future options that would really make a difference.
We’ve also identified another 24 nearby properties, 19 of which are occupied, which we think it would make sense to demolish. This will give us more space to explore opportunities on Shadsworth.
We know many people have lived in their homes a long time and that moving is never easy. However, we’re talking to affected residents individually about the support we could give them and what compensation they would be entitled to.
We’ve now contacted everyone whose house we have identified as one that could be demolished. If you’ve not heard from us, it is likely that your house is not affected. If, however, you have any questions about the process, please contact us.
Kath Reeves is the person for you to contact if you have ideas, questions or concerns.
You can contact Kath about:
• Any thoughts and suggestions for placeshaping in general
• Any questions about how your home is affected, the support available for moving
• Any questions about how you can contribute ideas to placeshaping.
For general housing queries or to book repairs, please contact us in the usual way (via our app, website or on 0300 555 5560).
You can contact Kath:
• Every Tuesday (10am–2pm) at The Unit, Rothesay Road
• By calling 0300 555 5560 and asking to leave a message for Kath
• By filling in the online form.
Family Space
You told us that there needed to be houses for families on the estate and we’ve identified some spaces where we can build. We have been granted planning permission to deliver 10 new three-bedroom homes across the estate, with homes planned for Orkney Close, Brownlow Street and Brodick Road.
Stay Up To Date
Stay up to date and get the news first by signing up to our digital newsletter. We will also post fliers and printed newsletters to you from time to time.
Space for Everyone
When we asked what was important to you in Shadsworth, the park easily came top.
However, it didn’t provide everything that was needed for all ages. Some equipment had broken and was now removed. It didn’t compete with the park people remember from the past. So, working with young people at The Hub, local schoolchildren and the community we put our heads together and, just before Christmas, we explained our plans. Almost everyone we spoke to told us they liked the ideas.
The plan is to build a modern park with different options for different ages and abilities. It will include areas where people can get active playing ball or riding bikes, scooters or skateboards. It will include sensory areas, where young people can go to chill and sensible seating and lighting for adults who just want to enjoy the space. It will be overlooked by a new purpose-built hub, designed with young people in mind.
