Skelmersdale’s Firbeck and Findon estates set to miss out on £4.5m repairs scheme

Feb 4 2010 Skelmersdale Advertiser

COUNCIL tenants in parts of Skelmersdale could face years of living in crumbling houses when a £4.5m investment programme is diverted away from them.

West Lancashire’s Capital Investment Scheme, worth an estimated £4,528,619, is set to be agreed when councillors meet in Ormskirk tonight.

That money, however, which goes on things such as heating, insulation, painting and repairs, will not go to the Firbeck and Findon estates.

As a result, the council says, of the Kirkby Regeneration announcement that Everton’s planned stadium in Kirkby town centre will not go ahead.

The move to keep Firbeck and Findon out of the investment programme has raised concerns that proposals the estates have been earmarked for demolition as part of the Skelmersdale town centre regeneration plans, now very much back on the agenda following the Kirkby decision, are being quietly pushed through.

But those proposals could take years, according to the Firbeck and Findon Campaign Group, leaving tenants stuck in houses which are rapidly falling into a state of disrepair.

Campaign leader Hazel Scully said: “We are very disappointed that Firbeck and Findon will not be included in the capital programme.

“We are still fighting, hoping and praying that the decision to demolish our houses can be overturned.

“But it’s possible that the timescale for demolition could be five to 10 years.

“Are we then expected to live in homes which are allowed to deteriorate around us during those years?

“The campaign group is determined to argue for inclusion in the capital programme.

“The programme is a service and we pay rent which provides that service.”