COUNCIL mismanagement, bad tenants and poor parenting were all blamed for the troubles of Huncoat's Within Grove estate at a public meeting last night.

Almost 50 residents turned up for the meeting, arranged by Hyndburn Council to consult tenants on the possibility of selling off their homes.

A small group of tenants was formed to have further discussions with the council.

Head of housing, Gwyneth Sarkar, said tenants would have the final say in a ballot but stock transfer was possibly the only way of funding much needed improvements.

Without that change in ownership, the council would not be able to bring money into Within Grove for the foreseeable future.

The council estimates it needs £20 million over the next five years to bring half of its 4,000 council houses up to a reasonable standard.

Currently it has less than £1 million a year for all repairs. Mrs Sarkar said: "The estate has a stigma attached to it partly as a result of press publicity that has not been kind to Huncoat."

With the new housing development planned at Huncoat over the next seven to ten years, bringing with it new community facilities, there was an opportunity to radically change that image.

Some tenants blamed the council for allowing the estate and some of its tenants to deteriorate over the years to the point where a sell-off was the only option.

Mrs Sarkar said the authority did its best to vet tenants and also followed up complaints about residents.

But the only stick it had was to evict them, requiring absolutely concrete evidence from neighbours unwilling to go to court, often because they were afraid.

Peter Dearden, who moved on to the estate four months ago, said the biggest problem facing the area was a social one with kids running riot, smashing cars and houses.

He had been spat at and insulted.

He added: "A lot of it comes down to parents who could not give a damn what their kids do as long as the mess doesn't end up on their doorstep."

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