7 December 2009 Campaign to improve the blocks of Alan Place.

As a result of a long Labour campaign:£1M refurbishment at Alan Place Sanctuary Shaftesbury Housing Association, who own the 72 flats at Alan Place in Bath Road, have finally started work on a major £1 Million refurbishment scheme, the result of a long campaign by local Labour Councillors shocked at the poor maintenance in the blocks.John Ennis says: “Sanctuary Shaftesbury Housing Association have been neglecting these flats for many years.

Redecoration cycles have been missed, the paint is peeling, the corridors are shabby, some of the flats have had awful problems with subsidence, and the play helicopter had to be taken away because it was unsafe and was not replaced!“We decided a couple of years ago that enough was enough. We surveyed tenants and held a special surgery at the flats to get their views, we made Sanctuary Shaftesbury come to a public meeting with tenants, we helped set up a Residents’ Association, and when still nothing happened I got in Environmental Health to look at some of the worst problems and put pressure on the landlords.“All that work has paid off.

At the end of last month work finally started on site on a £1 Million refurbishment scheme, and not before time. And the reformed Residents’ Association is going from strength to strength: they ran a Healthy Neighbourhoods Day in October which Naz Sarkar and I attended and I am working hard to get them some land to use as an allotment.

I really believe we are moving towards a better life for these tenants, and I don’t think Sanctuary Shaftesbury will be neglecting them again.”