Residents fight demolition plans

A community action group in Oldham is vowing to fight plans to demolish hundreds of homes in Derker.

Local residents were meeting council officials on Friday after accusing the authority of ignoring their concerns.

Hundreds of houses in Derker are due to be pulled down as part of the government's multi-million pound Housing Market Renewal project.

Similar schemes are planned for other parts of Oldham as well as Rochdale, Manchester and Salford.

Action group member Mark McLean said feelings are running high among local people.

"They will have to bring the bailiffs, bring the boot boys and they will have to walk over our younger members to get to the older members.

"And we will do it very, very public - they are not having our houses."

Another resident, Gillian Andrews, whose home is earmarked for demolition, added: "It would be devastating really; there's a lot of family history with this house.

"It was left to our children by my husband's grandmother, who was a lovely woman.

"It was a haven of safety to my husband when he was a child - it would just be devastating on a personal level as well as the complete removal of choice."