HORNING PROTESTER ADMITS ‘I WAS WRONG’
A 74 year-old woman who threatened to chain herself to her front door to resist being moved from her home while refurbishment work was carried out has moved back in – and admitted she was wrong.
Sheila Fleck told Victory Housing Trust chief executive John Archibald that she would not move from her sheltered home in Leeds Way, Horning, when plans were announced two years ago to convert cramped bedsits into spacious bungalows.
But when Mr Archibald handed her the keys to her completely refurbished home – the first to be completed as part of a £1 million investment in the site - she declared, “This man has given me another 20 years of life. I am delighted.”
Mrs Fleck has lived at the complex for 14 years, and was occupying one of 11 bedsits on the site. Her home has now been enlarged into a two bedroom bungalow.
“When Victory announced their plans, I stood up in a meeting and said that I was going to chain myself to the door – I didn’t want to move out of my home,” she said. “To be honest, I didn’t believe what Mr Archibald was saying – I thought he was going to pull a fast one.
“But now I see that the upheaval has been more than worth it. I was an old woman living in a bedsit; now I have been given a new lease of life.”
Mrs Fleck moved into another flat on the site during the nine months that the work was taking place. She received payments from Victory for disruption and the loss of her original home totalling several thousand pounds – which she has used to buy new carpets for her new home, as well as a new television and microwave.
The work on Mrs Fleck’s home forms part of a £1 million project to replace 11 unsuitable bedsits, and extend and refurbish other homes on the Leeds Way site. The result will be the creation of 14 one-bed bungalows, four two-bed bungalows and one two-bed wheelchair-adapted bungalow, as well as a communal room.
“We knew that doing this was going to cause disruption for residents, no matter how hard we tried to minimise that disruption,” said Victory chief executive John Archibald. “We shouldn’t under-estimate the effect on older people of asking them to leave their homes while work is carried out, and Mrs Fleck’s reaction was entirely understandable.
“But we were confident that when she saw the result, she would change her mind – and that is what has happened. I’m delighted to see how thrilled she is with her new home, and it makes all of the hard work worthwhile.
“Once the work here is completed, Leeds Way will have 19 state-of-the-art sheltered homes, which will be much more suitable for today’s and tomorrow’s needs than what was here before.”
Mrs Fleck added, “Some people have vision, some people don’t. I’m big enough to say that Mr Archibald was right and I was wrong – and I now have a lovely new home as a result. I have rented a lot of homes during my life, and Victory Housing Trust is the best landlord I have ever had.”