'˜Heartless' letter leaves elderly tenants in Market Harborough in tears

The letter was sent to some tenants at the Naseby Square site by Waterloo Housing Group.

Local councillor Roger Dunton has called the letter “absolutely appalling”.

Caroline Osborne, who has been leading a Naseby Square tenants’ campaign said the letter was “like a business proposal, with no consideration for people’s feelings”.

Harborough MP Neil O’Brien said: “I think Waterloo have gone about this totally and utterly the wrong way. It’s really shocking behaviour.”

And one resident in a house listed for demolition told the Mail: “I’ve been in tears – it’s so heartless and worrying – 
and I’ve no idea what Waterloo’s plans are for me”.

The letter was received by tenants on Wednesday, May 16. It said Waterloo was working on a plan which involved “demolishing flats 47-61 (odd numbers) and bungalows 21-41 (odd numbers)... and redeveloping the land to provide family accommodation”.

There was no specific information in the letter about where or even if the tenants would be re-housed.

Even tenants who want to move from Naseby Square were upset by the letter.

“Yes I’m worried” one 75-year-old tenant told the Mail. “They say in a letter out of the blue that your flat is going to be demolished, and don’t tell you what happens next... yes, people worry.”

A stormy initial meeting between tenants and Waterloo Housing officials on Tuesday gave little new information, tenants claim.

But a spokesperson for Waterloo Housing told the Mail this week that “each affected resident will be offered suitable alternative accommodation in due course”.

She said this fact was omitted from the letter “due to our intention to discuss personally with each resident what their individual needs are”– should the planning application be successful.

Neil O’Brien said: “I’m appalled that my constituents should get a heartless letter out of the blue saying their houses are going to be knocked down. The letter wrongly presented it as a done deal, which it is not. They have caused distress to a lot of people needlessly, and they now need to do a lot of work to sort out the mess they have made.”

“I’ve asked for an urgent meeting with them to explain themselves.”