We’re going to be forced out of our homes by a £2.2bn newbuild estate – it will turn the area into a ghost town
FRUSTRATED estate residents fear a mammoth £2.2 billion newbuild development will force them from their homes.
The Ladywood Estate is currently a 1,900-home estate in Birmingham‘s city centre.
But a giant plan will explode its size and replace many of the existing households with 7,500 mostly new properties.
Long time resident Stephen Anderson said he worries the development will result in him losing his beloved home.
“I thought I’d be carried out of here but instead we might be forced to go against our will,” he told Birmingham Live.
The plan will involve private properties being voluntarily sold before a mass compulsory purchase order is potentially implemented.
“If they want to buy us out, will we have enough to buy a new place when it’s finished? I doubt it,” Stephen said.
“I’m touching 60 and this was my legacy, the place we’ve created to suit us. It looks like we will have to start again somewhere.”
However, works are not scheduled to begin until 2025 and will take 20 years across four different stages.
Elsewhere on the estate, resident Jerome said he’s afraid what impact the upheaval will have on his elderly neighbours.
“I think this could kill some of them,” he said.
Another resident, Harry, who has lived on the estate his whole life, said he worries about what the development will do to the community.
“What I really worry about now is that these grand plans will leave it as a ghost estate – it is already neglected and I imagine it will go more down once the diggers move in,” he said.
Leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr John Cotton, said the developments were needed to keep up with the area’s growth.
“The delivery of Ladywood Estate Regeneration Scheme is the city’s most significant housing regeneration and redevelopment opportunity and key to the sustainable growth and development of the city,” he said in a statement.
“The regeneration of Ladywood Estate will address both social and environmental issues and deliver significant benefits for the local community and wider Birmingham economy.”
New schools, two new public parks and greenspace, improved public transport and community facilities are also planned as part of the transformation.