[Col.Kurtz]

Originally Posted by fatgit

In Burnley Wood for example, one company owns about 1/3 of the freeholds for properties that have been CPO'd, and wanted ~3 times the market value for those freeholds, and Elevate are only allowed to pay the market value. Obviously, this has caused huge problems. There can also be a lot of problems actually tracking down the freehold owners.

That's just plain greed. I hate all this attitude of wanting something for nothing.

Originally Posted by fatgit

As for facelifting, yes, you can facelift the house but you can't facelift the resident.
In my opinion, facelifting / renovation / regeneration should not just be about the properties, but also the people, the community, and the attitudes.
You can use mediation organisations, ASBO's, court orders, fines, social services(try not to laugh at that one!), community groups, support groups etc, to tackle the issues in the area, while you are renovating it.

A good point well put.

There is too much of the attitude that "someone else will clean up my mess and get paid for it" these days, people need to realise that we all have a responsibility for our surroundings and renovation schemes might not be needed as often. Maybe then our council taxes wouldn't be rising so frequently.