Concrete falling off flats' balconies, council told

Arbury Court in the north of Cambridge has a number of flats and businesses

Concrete has been falling off balconies in properties that "really need to come down" as part of a major city redevelopment scheme, a council meeting has heard.

Cambridge City Council had proposed building more than 200 council homes and 200 private homes, and redeveloping shopping and community facilities in the north of the city.

The authority would need to demolish 149 existing council flats at Arbury Court, Kingsway and Brackley Close.

Gerri Bird, a Labour councillor and cabinet member for housing, told those affected: "I know this will be hard, change is hard, but I promise you that we will look after you."

The council's cabinet met on Tuesday to approve the next steps for the project, including a budget of more than £80m and a public consultation.

It previously said many of the homes were in poor condition, with structural issues creating fire and safety risks, and widespread damp and mould issues.

Katie Thornburrow, a Labour councillor, told the meeting: "As you go round there now I think you can see that there's concrete which is falling off the balconies in some areas and it's exposing the reinforcing bars. That's because of the period that they were built in.

"I can also see that the council are already involved in trying to prevent that and make sure the buildings are safe."

Gerri Bird said traders would remain in their premises until new ones were built

Bird made it clear it was "the homes that we have problems with, it's not the tenants".

"The homes are old and there's no point in trying to retrofit them. They really need to come down and [be] rebuilt," she said.

Jamie Dalzell, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said after the meeting: "It's an investment into the north area that I think is long overdue."

He said there were "some really promising signs of really good opportunity for great new council homes".

"In Cambridge we do have a real challenge with two tiers of council homes. One of the best things we can do with sites like this is therefore a redevelopment but a redevelopment built around the community," he added.

The meeting heard a minimum of 50% of the homes in the redevelopment would be council housing.

Traders in the area have previously expressed fears about the redevelopment, including a butcher who was worried the cost of leases would be unaffordable after the redevelopment.

Butcher John West says there is a "huge sense of community" in the area

At the cabinet it was announced that traders would get a support package through the transition, including a rent reduction for the first two years and they would stay in their current buildings until the new ones were built.

John West, who runs a butcher's shop at Arbury Court, said after the meeting he was "very relieved that they are listening to our worries and concerns".

While welcoming the news of the two-year reduction in rent he said he was "a little bit wary of" it because "if we move into the new properties and they cost three times as much but they're only decreasing it by 50% we've not won anything".