NINETEEN homes on an estate could soon be bought without the owners’ permission and demolished to make way for a huge development.
But Wokingham Borough Council, which has planning permission to build 249 homes on the Gorse Ride South estate, insists “no one is being forced out of these homes”.
The council owns the majority of the estate in Finchampstead but does not own 19 homes, so it has agreed to use a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) if the homeowners do not agree to sell.
The 178 run-down prefabricated homes on the site were only expected to last for around 40 years when they were built in the 1970s and the council says it “is not economically viable” to try to repair them.
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It wants to begin demolishing them in March so construction can begin in the autumn, but says the project could be delayed by up to 12 months if people object to the use of a CPO and a public inquiry is held.
It has offered everyone currently living on the estate the chance to move into one of the new homes and states that 185 of them will be affordable.
“Nobody is being forced out of these homes, they will be allowed to come back to brand-new homes,” said Cllr John Kaiser, deputy leader of the council.
“We need to be sure we can gather the land and gather the homes we need to demolish. To do that, we will have to institute a CPO.
“But we won’t use it, except in very extreme circumstances when we have exhausted all other means of negotiation.
“At this moment in time, negotiations are going extremely well and we are being as generous as we possibly can, bearing in mind we are using public funds.”
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People currently living on the estate have been offered a home loss payment, that is 10 per cent of the value of their home, as well as disturbance payments that can be used to cover the cost of moving and legal fees.
An interest-free loan scheme has also been set up, which allows people to borrow up to £150,000 so they can buy a new property.
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