Weston Heights is our award-winning first regeneration project which has breathed new life into a once-ailing ex-mining estate in Stoke-on-Trent (What House Awards 2011 - Best Partnership Scheme, Bronze).
Weston Heights, formerly known as the Coalville estate, is in the Weston Coyney area of Stoke-on-Trent. Originally built in 1954 by the National Coal Board for the mining community, the NCB sold off their homes in the early 1980’s, some to existing residents, and many more to private landlords. When the non-traditional construction methods that had been used in the building of the estate was found to be defective, they became deemed unmortgagable.
Means-tested grants helped some owner-occupiers to upgrade their homes, but many properties remained unmortgagable and continued to appeal largely to private investors. The condition of these homes deteriorated significantly over the 1980s & 1990s and this, plus a high proportion of poorly managed private rented homes, led the estate into serious decline.
After years of campaigning by local residents about the estate’s poor quality, poor image and depressed housing market, Coalville Residents Association joined forces with Stoke-on-Trent City Council and registered social landlord Riverside, to form the Coalville Partnership and try to effect some change in the area.
The welcome arrival of Housing Market Renewal funding in the area led to the appointment of Compendium by Renew North Staffordshire to carry out the estate’s regeneration in 2006. We joined the Coalville Partnership and continue to report to it's successor, the Weston Heights Management Group, on all aspects of project delivery.
Compendium's vision is to transform the estate through radical remodelling, to complement and enhance surrounding neighbourhoods and countryside. We aim to make it a place where its founding community are proud to live and where new families will want to settle. Work started in January 2007 and is due to be completed in 2013.
The project has seen the demolition of 257 obsolete homes, which are being replaced with 280 new homes,in a broad range of housetypes and tenures. The new estate is entirely mixed (and pepper-potted) in tenure, with about 70% homes for open market sale, and 30% for affordable rent or low cost home ownership.
The community has been involved and engaged every step of the way, from being consulted about the masterplan for the project to involvement in discussions and decisions through the Coalville Partnership Board as the project has progressed. We maintained a fully staffed on-site information centre during the first 5 years of the project, while the upheaval of clearance and re-housing was taking place, to ensure that we were accessible to local people.
The project has seen the demolition of 257 obsolete homes, which are being replaced with 280 new homes,in a broad range of housetypes and tenures. The new estate is entirely mixed (and pepper-potted) in tenure, with about 70% homes for open market sale, and 30% for affordable rent or low cost home ownership.
At Weston Heights we also piloted a purchaser-led flexible tenure approach in partnership with RSL Riverside. Not all the plots have had a predetermined tenure, enabling people to select a home and then choose the right financial and tenure package to suit their circumstances (this initiative was highlighted by the Audit Commission as ‘Positive practice’ within their 2009 HMR Performance Review).
For more information about the Weston Heights project
download an independent research report on the project here (50KB)
You can also visit our Weston Heights Sales Centre.