Group plans to fight demolition

An action group based in East Yorkshire has put in a bid to redevelop a near-derelict set of homes rather than demolish them.

Goole Action Group (Gag) is bidding for a tender issued by the county council to redevelop a site in Goole where 117 homes currently sit, reports the Goole Courier.

Gag has said it plans to redevelop each house at a cost of between £60,000 and £70,000, these renovations including the fitting of insulation and the transformation of the back lane into gardens.

Speaking of the plans, Alan Wilson of Gag told the paper: "We have extensive plans that have been drawn up that the council has refused to look at in the past but we hope this will be a fair and open process."

Many of the properties are have been unoccupied and boarded up.

In May 72 per cent of MPs gave their support to call from various housing sector stakeholders for the rate of VAT on refurbishment work and materials to be reduced from 17.5 per cent to five per cent.