Fir Vale residents met with councillors on 26th July 2005 to initiate the project groups that will help shape the future of the area. There were notably less people than at previous meetings.
The Page Hall area will set up a project group, which will work with the Area Panel on plans to feed back to the Cabinet. Over the next 9–12 months a bid will be put together for the funds to regenerate the area. This is likely to involve mostly refurbishments and identifying areas for change at the house and street levels.
Groups will also be set up for the Skinnerthorpe and Earl Marshall areas to implement the plans already decided. There were dismayed residents from Skinnerthorpe who were not happy with the demolition planned for their area.
Trust was not always evident in the meeting; there were those who continued to press the panel for more information and insisted that not all was being revealed. But my feeling is we have to put some trust in this process as it’s not going away and we will have to work together at some point.
The first meetings for the groups will be in September 2005. To join contact 261 7216.
by Kevin Eckersley