Residents of St Mary's Road, Tetbury, have hit out at Bromford Housing Association

9:29am Thursday 6th September 2012 in News By Ian Craig

CONCERNED residents in Tetbury have hit out at their social housing provider for allowing younger people to move in to an area traditionally populated by retirees.

Most of the residents in the bungalows in the St Mary’s Road area owned by Bromford Housing Association are elderly and are angry the association has recently allowed as young as 30 to move into some of the vacant homes.

At a recent meeting of the Tetbury Tenant’s Association, acting chairman Kevin Painter said residents were becoming increasingly concerned about the issue.

“We have an area where retired people are very happily living and young people come in and change the whole area,” he said. “This is a real problem.

“When you get to a certain age you want to retire – we are living longer and there are more elderly and there’s got to be some plans for them.

“I’m not saying we don’t want younger people here, but we need to look at what’s best for families

“We don’t live in utopia, we know some things are just going to happen but you have to look at what’s best for the community.”

Tenant’s association co-organiser Sue Raines said tensions were high over the problem.

“It just doesn’t work – they don’t mix with the people who are already here,” she said. “We can’t blame the kids, they’ve got nowhere to go, but it doesn’t work and there’s a huge amount of trouble.”

A spokesman from Bromford said, although the homes on St Mary’s Road had been used for sheltered housing in the past, they had become available for general use five years ago.

She added the housing provider had recently discussed with residents the idea of giving a preference to customers over 50 with a connection to the town.

“In response, we are currently drafting a lettings plan to set out future allocation of these homes,” she said.

“We intend to give greater access for older customers whilst also making sure our adapted homes go to those customers who need them, which makes best use of our homes and our resources.”

Comments(12)

snowarden says...
1:35pm Thu 6 Sep 12

I find it amusing that the spokesman for BHA has no name! So that they can be named and shamed perhaps, For the way my family was treated by BHA nothing i read about this awful housing association would suprise me, I've said it before and i will say it again, Put it to the public vote and get the rotten stinkers out!

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libby_c says...
3:10pm Thu 6 Sep 12

Wow I find this a tad snobbish! I've grown up in this area and would love to move somewhere idylic like Tetbury as that's where I spent the first 5 years of my life. The housing situation is chronic for someone like me trying to get on the property ladder right now so sometimes housing associations are the only option. But it's nice to know that me and my partner, a quiet couple who prefer a night in with the fire lit, wouldn't be welcome in the neighbourhood simply because we're under 65.

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Smythe says...
4:13pm Thu 6 Sep 12

When people try to dictate who can and cannot live in a particular area it in essence becomes a ghetto.
If the housing association told Mr & Mrs Smith aged 70 and 68 that they could not continue to live in their home because all the other residents were 'young' there would be absolute uproar together with the mandatory picture across the newspapers and tv of the said couple looking sadly at their garden and perhaps a picture of the family they had brought up there. It is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of age, that equally applies to the young as well as the old. Equality legislation in not the preserve of any particular group, that is something the honourable councillor should be well aware of, and siding with one over another is doing a disservice to the public.
If my experience has anything to go by older persons accomodation happens to be a darned sight noisier than their younger counterparts, mainly because older people tend to wind the volume switch to a Spinal Tap 11 while they're watching the tv or listening to the radio.

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johannaa123 says...
7:40pm Thu 6 Sep 12

I am disgusted by the attitude of these people! There would be uproar if people discriminated against them because of their age! I and many of my friends are in our 30's and we are hardworking, responsible, community-minded people. How dare these people make such assumptions about us! I was born and brought up in a small Cotswold village but cannot afford to live there as I have been priced out of the market by second home-owners and retirees! It is, like many other villages, now a ghost town as families and young people have been excluded. The life and soul of the villages has gone. Now I am being told I should not live in such a place because of my age?! They enjoy the benefits of social housing subsidized by our taxes. I have no problem with this but how dare they try to take this opportunity away from young people by trying to dictate to a housing association who they should and should not house. Shame on them!
Greed and selfishness. what a terrible example to set to the young. It saddens me to see this.

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Not Postman Pat says...
9:46am Fri 7 Sep 12

I wonder whether the learned 'Snowarden' has considered that the female spokesman may not actually be an employee of Bromford?
Many organisations have spokesperson's (note W&G the correct genderless terminology) that are from media relation facilities.

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Not Postman Pat says...
9:51am Fri 7 Sep 12

Back to the original theme.
I have to agree with Smythe and Johannaa123, the older residents do seem to want everything regardless of everyone else.
I just surprised someone who served in the 1939-45 war hasn't been wheeled out, I wonder who would have the trump card a WW2 veteran or an Iraq/Afghanistan verteran?

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snowarden says...
5:04pm Fri 7 Sep 12

I think the main reason for the "spokesman" male or female not being named is because the bad press which surround BHA as well as recent readers letters concerning the actions or non actions of BHA would suggest that the "spokesman" would be bombarded with complaints, I would love to throw a list of questions at a "spokesman" from BHA but previous attempts by me to contact one ended in "there is no one available for comment or to take your call"

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Not Postman Pat says...
5:21pm Fri 7 Sep 12

As with all clients you have the right to take your business elsewhere if you do not like the way things are being done, that though will involve you moving house, I am sure there will be quite a queue of people prepared to take on your tenancy.
One of the great anomalies of life; isn't it strange how older people can remember every last detail of WW2, yet can't remember the sequence of four single digits when it comes to paying by chip & pin?

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snowarden says...
6:13pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Best thing i've EVER done was to move away from Cirencester and BHA where indeed their answer for anything and everthing was "theres plenty more people that want your house" What a joke, Interestingly enough though i haven't heard that one liner from anywhere else for any reason, Other less money grabbing.association
s will listen to the tennant and will help. Biggest laugh is what BHA print on the bottom of their letters - "Passionate about people", REALLY???

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snowarden says...
7:07pm Fri 7 Sep 12

How many selfish old people live in three bedroom accommodation with no regard to those of us that was forced to live in a tiny two bedroom house with an official grade one hazard aware warning from environmental health for overcrowding? Having our bed in the living room to allow our children to have the bedroom space, No garden, BHA said we was adequately housed, How about all those who don't need three bedroom accommodation - move to a smaller house and let young family's with growing children have the same chance you did all those years ago! We had to mutual exchange out of the area after two years of absolute hell, Because BHA told us that was the only option.They even told us if we had any more children they would evict us as we was making our situation worse!,
I was born and raised in Cirencester but am forced to live out of the area.
I even knew about an old lady living in a huge and i mean huge three bedroom house in Cirencester, BUT lived in the front room because she couldn't make the stairs, The garden was overgrown, Yet BHA did nothing about it. My message to the young family in Tetbury - enjoy it your entitled to it, Everyone was young once!,

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snowarden says...
7:25pm Fri 7 Sep 12

How many old black and white films have you seen filmed on a 1960's or 1970's council estate where there are children playing in the road? Am i to believe that the parents of these children are not the of the same era as the retiree's of Tetbury, My god how their memory has deteriorated.

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Blimey O'Riley says...
11:37pm Fri 7 Sep 12

I can remember those black and white days, yes we used to play in the streets, but as I remember most people didn't have cars, the only vehicles you used to see were delivery vehicles or the dustcart ( and the fire engine come autumn when the coal fires were lit and set the chimney on fire).
The vast majority of the parents from those days are now likely to be in their 80's or even 90's, it's those in their late 60-70's who now seem to be the biggest moaners.
We were brought up to respect our elders however times move on and respect & equality is not a one way street.
Whereas playing football/cowboys & indians etc outside from dawn til dusk was our thing, lots of youngsters nowadays prefer their computer games so do not pose a threat to the tranquility that some people strive for. I just wonder whether these elder residents have also sought to ban access to their own grandchildren...beca
use " you know what kids are"?
As the Bromford spokeswoman said, the area is no longer exclusively for the use of sheltered housing but is now for general use, some may consider that a retrograde step, I on the other hand consider it better to integrate than discriminate.

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