I lived in the Wolverhampton area from birth to when I moved to a village 6 miles from Stafford in 1971. All that time, and since, Wednesfield was always in and out of the local press as a nearly sink area where most of Wolverhampton’s ne’er-do-wells were dumped in 60s high-rise blocks that became no-go areas. Not a lot has changed since 2000. Yes, it’s a bit tidier, there are fewer problems reported but, sticks as they say.
On the other hand, these new houses look nice from the outside. I just hope the new ex-homeless tenants look after them, pay their rents on time, and “keep their noses clean”. Then, and only then, should they be allowed to buy for £1 after the 25 years of tenancy is up.
There are a few places up here that could be described as that, Percy. However. tons of money has been spent on them over the years, and now they are sought after areas (pricey, mind you…nowt for a pound up this end!) by all the young business folk.
You make it sound like old scruffy Joe that sits on the corner in the rain with his equally bedraggled dog, looking for a few pence to buy a can of beer, is going to rock up to a brand new house and buy it for a pound!
Searching around for news items relating to the ‘Buy To Let’ policies many years ago, I found this link below. Very interesting when it shows MPs are often private landlords, with their own vested interests in rent levels etc., see comments within the article:
sticks as they say.