Petition launched to stop eviction of Sovereign Housing Association retirement complex residents
A petition has been launched to stop the re-development of a retirement housing complex into family homes as current residents fear they won’t be re-located nearby.
Windmill Court on Windmill Road, Mortimer, is owned by Sovereign Housing association, which plans to demolish the 34 bedsit and one-/two-bedroom flat facility and construct 24 new homes, 15 of which will be affordable housing.
The petition, which currently has 283 signatures, was launched by members of Stratfield Mortimer Parish Council after two Windmill Court residents attended a parish council meeting on July 14 and voiced their concerns.
A poster for the petition states: “Sovereign Housing association proposes to evict the residents of Windmill Court from their homes, without suitable alternative accommodation being available within the village that would allow them to retain family and/or personal ties.
“The parish council has helped residents create a petition calling on the West Berkshire Council executive to refuse any application from the association to lift restrictive covenant(s) or other restrictions, the existence of which prevent eviction.”
The re-development factsheet from Sovereign states: “While we appreciate that many residents are very settled at the scheme, we’ve looked at various options to modernise the building internally and to make changes to the outside space and amenities.
“However, we’ve concluded that we can’t bring it up to the long-term standards of comfort that we’d like for our customers.
“We’re therefore supporting all the households to find suitable alternative accommodation and plan to submit proposals in summer 2022 to redevelop the site.”
The factsheet also states that Sovereign has had conversations with West Berkshire Council about removing the covenant which would allow it to re-develop the site earlier than expected.
Sovereign’s reasons for re-development include the high cost of running or refurbishing the “outdated” facility, the lack of demand for the current scheme, and the need for “high-quality family, affordable housing in village locations like Mortimer, where such homes are often out of reach to many families”.
The housing association has stated that displaced residents would be entitled to financial compensation of £7,100 for statutory home loss and disturbance payments of £1,000 to £2,000 (depending on size of home) to cover moving costs.
It has also stated that it will support households during their move, with one potential destination for displaced Windmill Court residents being Blands Court, another Sovereign facility located about two miles away in Burghfield Common.
Six households from within Windmill Court have already moved to new homes.
To view the petition, which closes on September 5, visit https://bit.ly/3PgkAJ3
It can also be signed at the gift and coffee shop The Baobab (9am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 1pm Saturday).
Plans for the Windmill Court site re-development have not yet been submitted to West Berkshire Council.