Oliver Coppard and Chris Read commit to improve housing conditions after meeting Little London residents

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and Rotherham Council leader Chris Read have committed to work together to use their powers and funding to improve conditions on the Little London estate after meeting with residents.

Members of the Big Power for Little London group met with Mr Coppard and Mr Read to discuss issues on the estate, including landlords charging unaffordable rents for damp, cold homes and the lack of funding available from the government for former industrial towns.

The estate currently has two blocks of derelict properties which have been left to decay for almost a decade. Meanwhile, residents in many of the occupied properties have been left to deal with poor conditions including damp and mould.

Last year, residents began to organise, under the banner Big Power for Little London, to campaign for better homes and conditions on their estate. Now they’re setting their sights on what needs to change for renters across the whole of South Yorkshire, which has some of the coldest, leakiest homes in the whole country.

During the meeting on Friday [13 December], residents asked Mr Coppard to campaign for devolved powers and funding for councils to buy up and upgrade poorly maintained private rented homes, as part of a community right to buy plan set out by the New Economics Foundation.

The mayor has now committed to meet with residents and Rotherham Council in the new year to discuss these solutions, and agree a plan of action. He also agreed to come onto the estate to do some tree planting with residents in the spring.

South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said:

“I’m grateful to the residents in Little London for meeting with me and Cllr Read. Negligent landlords have no place in South Yorkshire and I will do everything in my power to improve the quality of people’s homes in Little London and across our communities.

“Our homes are meant to be our foundation; they give us safety and security for us and our families. For too many families in Little London their homes are not providing that stability.

“I’m determined to build a healthier, happier and more prosperous South Yorkshire but we will only make that vision a reality when everyone here has a safe place to call home.

“Over the coming months, I’ll be working closely with the residents and Rotherham Council to agree a plan of action. I know the Government shares our determination to give everyone a good home and I will also be engaging with ministers to see what further support may be available nationally.”

Speaking after the meeting, Arran Fuller, Big Power for Little London and resident on the estate, said:

“Getting up every day and looking at those derelict houses gets inside your head. It makes you feel like you’re nothing. It’s heartbreaking to see my two little lads and all the other young children on this estate playing outside those derelicts, because there’s nowhere else for them to play.

“There’s loads of unused green spaces on this estate that could be turned into playgrounds or gardens, to give people a better life. But the problem is this estate is owned by private landlords, many of whom only care about getting paid. Homes on this estate are in appalling conditions. The damp, mouldy conditions are making people sick. I’ve had pneumonia twice in the last year.

“Towns like ours have been ignored by politicians for too long. But people around here know how to stand up for each other and keep fighting for what we need. Following today’s meeting with Mr Coppard, our hope is that the mayor will work with Chris Read at Rotherham Council, to get this derelict site dealt with once and for all.

“But the problems on our estate are facing renters right across South Yorkshire. We’ve asked Mr Coppard and Mr Read to call for powers from national government to control rents and kick out private landlords who are not prepared to spend the money to make the homes they rent out safe and decent.”

Heather Kennedy, senior organiser at NEF, said:

“The progress made at this meeting shows what can be achieved by groups of renters and residents when they get organised around their shared hopes, and are prepared to bring constructive challenge to those in power.

“It’s also a huge vote of confidence for our unique approach to community organising and engagement at NEF, which bring people with lived experience together with activists and policy experts to design and push for solutions to the systemic problems that are making so many people miserable and sick around the country.”

ENDS

Contact

James Rush – james.rush@neweconomics.org

Notes

Figures from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition found that 22% of households in Yorkshire and Humber were living in cold damp homes, the second highest rate in the country.

The flat top houses in the Little London estate were built during the second world war and are now suffering from structural issues which are causing damp and mould. A bunch of these ​“flat tops” were abandoned years ago and sit, decaying in the middle of the estate, after the landlords declined to sell them to the council.