Families 'trapped' as Rudloe regeneration plan abandoned

Dozens of residents at Leylands Road, in Rudloe on the edge of Corsham, were due to be moved from their homes into a new development, on the site of the unused Rudloe Community Centre.

One of these tenants was mum of three Gina Baker, whose house had been earmarked for demolition after being plagued by years of “untreatable” black mould.

But a change of plan, prompted by opposition to the scheme and financial “pressures”, has left Ms Baker forced to stay put.

After the promise of new accommodation was snatched away, she feels trapped and is concerned for the wellbeing of her children.

She said: “For me the worst thing is the detrimental impact on my children’s health because my oldest son already has asthma, and my 17-month-old daughter is on the same path.

“She’s been in hospital twice already and has to use an inhaler, the doctor told me the damp has contributed but GreenSquareAccord don’t care about that.

“They gave us hope of living in better conditions and then just took it away.”

Ms Baker has lived in the property for eight years and first noticed the damp and mould in 2018.

Since then, she has tried to tackle it with cleaning products and ventilation but, like a number of residents in the area, has been unable to stop the spread.

A spokesperson from GreenSquareAccord emphasised that while demolition orders were issued for the current houses, they were not officially condemned.

They said: “We are sorry to hear that Ms Baker is having difficulties with damp and mould. To date she hasn’t contacted us about issues with damp and mould in her home, however we are committed to working with her to address the matter.

The mould in Ms Baker's house was deemed slight by GreenSquareAccord (Image: Gina Baker)

“When the surveyor visited Ms Baker’s home on June 14, they assessed the damp and mould inside her property as slight with no further action required.

“We will now contact her to arrange an appointment to visit her home again and establish if any action is needed.”

Ms Baker disputes the claim she has not reported the issue and says GreenSquareAccord employees visited her home in 2022 to treat mould.

She and others at the development have been supported by Box parish councillor Marilyn Tye who says the “rotting” houses are in a “state of disrepair.”

“They needed to be pulled down and rebuilt because people are living in an awful situation”, she added.

The decade-old regeneration scheme, which GreenSquareAccord says would have invested millions of pounds into the area and seen “high-quality affordable homes” built, was dropped in June.

The housing association claim this was due to local opposition which sought to save the community centre.

The Rudloe Community Centre was set to be demolished for new housing (Image: Trevor Porter)

They said: “For a time, the regeneration plans enjoyed the support of all councillors who represent the ward which Rudloe sits in.

“More recently a small number of people opposed the demolition of the community centre, and the relocation of the green space at Rudloe, which caused delays and meant we had to redesign the entire project.

“This redesign came with considerable cost implications, meaning we could fit fewer homes onto the site and, combined with significant pressures on the economy and our organisation, this has impacted the viability of the scheme.

“As a result, and after careful consideration, we could no longer continue with the project.”

A GreenSquareAccord spokesperson added that this was a “difficult decision” and that all the homes due to be demolished have since been audited by a surveyor to develop a scheme of works.

Opponents of the regeneration scheme claim a compromise proposal was put forward and rejected.