Sanctuary Craylands: man 'in limbo' as demolition begun

Colin Parkins, 65, who lives on the Basildon Craylands estate purchased a ground floor maisonette two years before Swan Housing announced a £250million regeneration of the estate in 2006.

The ambitious project to raze the estate to the ground and build 1,310 new homes was initially a success but the project was later left abandoned and unfinished.

The project was picked up by Sanctuary Housing, who have begun demolition work on the north area of the estate, which is full of empty houses.

But Mr Parkins says he is facing a “nightmare” as he and other residents have been left in limbo about whether their homes will be bought out and demolished or left.

He claims he is unable to sell his property and does not want to spend money repairing his home if it will be demolished.

He said: “It is a nightmare; my hands are completely tied now.

“It is limbo, and I cannot escape it. I had a sale fall through years ago when the buyer found out about the regeneration plans.

“There have been no updates and Sanctuary has said that it is all under review, but I don’t know if they will finish what has been started, we just do not know of any updates.

“I will look for other places to live but will I ever be able to sell this property?”

Mr Parkins bought his property as part of the right to buy scheme for £38,000 and has recently been forced to fork out £6,000 on urgent bathroom repairs.

He said: “We don’t want to spend any more and what I want is for everyone affected, which I estimate at 43 homeowners, brought together and told if we can move on.

“I am 65. I cannot get another mortgage.”

A spokesman for Sanctuary Housing said: “We are pleased that work on this exciting regeneration programme is progressing well, with the west side of the development now almost complete.

“We are committed to keeping the local community updated in a timely manner as plans for other parts of this development are finalised.”