the gulf of perception
continued from above...
I put these concerns and complaints to the regeneration team at New East Manchester, and their responses - see below - showed once again what a big difference exists between what they believe and how residents feel.
These officials don't have an easy job. They are, I'm convinced, doing what they think is right (doesn't mean I agree, but I respect where they're coming from) but the challenge is communicating their arguments to the community, and taking their concerns on board.
These agencies are sensitive to criticism (I've been jumped on several times for giving residents the opportunity to air critical views) and the communities feel frustrated that they are being ignored.
No one has a monopoly on being being right, a subjective concept if ever there was one. The solution must surely lie somewhere in between these two standpoints but it's hard to see how this can all be reconciled, with the gulf now so very wide.
ME: Residents are unhappy that many of the homes to be demolished in their area back onto the canal - whereas other sides of the same streets will in some cases remain standing. There is deep suspicion about the motives behind this.
NEM: Houses are to be demolished across the area. Demolition is not particularly concentrated adjacent the canal. In response to consultation the council has reduced demolition to the minimum necessary to deliver the neighbourhood plan.
ME: They also don't understand why their area is coming under PFI and many buildings facing demolition, when nearby estates with much poorer quality housing, anti-social behaviour and other problems are not affected. An example is the area immediately behind New Islington (Kingham Drive, Donwley Drive etc)
NEM: These estates are in the PFI project area. All retained housing will be brought up to a standard exceeding Decent Homes so neither the current standard of homes, nor the social problems in an area were the criteria used to decide the best site for new housing development.
Sites were selected where some available space already existed so that overall demolition could be minimised.
ME: They are not satisfied with the level of consultation. They claim a steering group was disbanded and believe other communities were allowed to vote on the partner company, whereas they were not.
NEM: There has been an ongoing programme of consultation with the residents. As part of this consultation a number of drop in events have been held at the Miles Platting Library where residents in their hundreds have attended.
All proposed designs for the area where exhibited at the Library for residents to see. Residents' views were taken into account when selecting the developer. The one that was selected was the one most residents said they preferred consistently during the consultation.