News / Housing
‘Bristol organising biggest Homes For Heroes 100 celebrations in UK’
Plans by Bristol City Council to spend £60,000 converting a council house back to its original 1920 condition to mark 100 years since its first estates were built have come under fire.
The idea is one of the centrepieces of the city’s Homes For Heroes 100 celebrations taking place throughout the year.
But Bristol Homes Board members are concerned it means denying a home to a family on the council’s waiting list until the property is restored back to its modern-day condition after 12 months as a temporary museum.
is needed now More than ever
Money for the Homes For Heroes 100 events comes mainly from an £80,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant and £80,000 matched funding from the city council, making it the largest group of projects in the UK to commemorate the centenary of the 1919 Addison Act, which heralded Britain’s first council estates.
A resident returns to her home in Beechen Drive, which features a plaque marking the building of the estate in 1919
Bristol Homes Board member Penny Walster, who represents the anti-poverty ACFA network of advice centres, said it would be better to create a virtual reality 100-year-old council house, which would avoid taking a real property out of use for 12 months.
She told Thursday’s meeting: “Tapping into the council’s links with the digital economy, such as with VR, would have less of an impact on families waiting to get a council house than converting an existing property.
“I know it’s only one house but it is still one house and there is massive pressure on the system.
“It would mean taking a council house out for a year.
“That might be a real draw, but a building can have only so many people in it.
“Virtual reality would be more accessible to more people. You could take it around schools and community festivals.”
Paul Smith says the council wants to challenge the negative stereotypes of council tenants
Board chairman and cabinet member for housing Paul Smith said a two-bedroom terraced property in Briar Way, Fishponds, was listed in the housing records as the first in Bristol to have had council tenants after it was built in July, 1920.
But he said the plan to convert the home back to its original state for temporary public display was only “speculative” and that another house dating back to the immediate post-World War One era could be chosen instead.
“If one of the houses becomes vacant, we would like to turn it into a museum and make it look like how it would have been in 1920,” Smith said.
He said Bristol was organising the biggest series of events in the country to mark the anniversary, from walking tours and artists’ community workshops to the publication of a new book of personal essays written by people who grew up on council estates, which will be handed out for free.
Smith added: “There were already a couple of local projects being developed in two of our 1919 estates, Hillfields and Sea Mills, and we wanted to create something that would cover the whole of the city.
“There is nowhere else doing anything on this scale. We’re leading the national celebrations.
“It’s about reconnecting working class people on these estates with their communities.
“We want to give a voice to these people and raise awareness of something culturally significant.
“We want to challenge the negative stereotypes of council tenants.
“Eighty per cent are either in work or retired, but that’s not the impression you get from some TV programmes today.”
A report to members said the city council commissioned a brief feasibility report to assess how much it would cost to convert a 1920-era house back to its original condition before returning the building to its current state.
It said: “Arriving at a detailed costing is problematic for housing without a detailed specification, but it is possible to arrive at a likely round figure, which would cost in the region of £50,000 to £60,000.”
Homes For Heroes 100 is led by the council and coordinated by Bristol Cultural Development Partnership.
Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Read more: Solving Bristol’s housing crisis
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