Ladywood: Fury as dozens fail to get inside meeting about homes

People had to listen outside on a speaker after failing to get into the packed meeting

Dozens of people were left furious after failing to get into a meeting to discuss the potential demolition of their homes.

Angry scenes unfolded in Ladywood, Birmingham, as large crowds gathered outside a packed community centre.

The £2.2bn regeneration of Ladywood Estate would involve bulldozing many of the almost 2,000 homes and replacing them with 7,000 new ones.

Footage on social media shows residents shouting through the centre doors.

Birmingham City Council told the BBC it was sorry people were unable to attend and lessons had been learned.

The mammoth scheme is estimated to take two decades to complete and would also add a new school, public parks, business premises and community facilities.

But residents said they had learned from press articles vast swathes of land and homes would be demolished under compulsory purchase orders.

'We've been underestimated'

Financial services worker Leah Swinyard was among those left standing outside listening to the meeting over a speaker.

"I only bought my house in 2020 and there was no talk of this then - the leaflets were delivered in 2018 to 2019 but nobody recalls receiving anything," she said.

"I think they underestimated the strength of feeling around here, these are our homes. Did they think they'd just be able to come and take them away?"

Large crowds stayed outside the meeting to try to get some answers

A lack of information has left many worried about what the future holds, residents said.

St Joseph, a subsidiary of housing giant Berkeley Group PLC, is to lead the scheme, described as the city's most significant project this century.

The estate is currently home to roughly 5,000 people, most of whom are council or social housing tenants.

The first buildings are unlikely to go up until 2028 at the earliest.

'Significant benefits'

Council leader John Cotton previously said the development was "the city's most significant housing regeneration and redevelopment opportunity and key to the sustainable growth and development of the city".

"The regeneration of Ladywood Estate will address both social and environmental issues and deliver significant benefits for the local community and wider Birmingham economy," he added when the plans were announced.

The number of properties will rise threefold, but only 16.8% of the new properties will meet the definition of affordable.

In a statement the council said it was sorry "that so many residents were not able to access the hall".

"Lessons have been learnt from the way the meeting was organised - we remain fully committed to including, and listening, to all residents and business views on the proposed plan as we move forward," it said.

Forthcoming consultation events and meetings will be widely publicised.

"We want to ensure the residents of Ladywood are heard and we help with their concerns as much as we can," it said.

Residents and businesses were invited to submit any questions by emailing [e-mail]