Hynes Family Wins First Round in Legal Fight to Save Home

Yesterday we received the fantastic news that the Hynes Family in Gipton had won the right take Leeds City Council to the High Court over the Council's decision to start Compulsory Purchase proceedings against their home. The Hynes Family live in the Oak Tree area of Gipton, one of 8 sites earmarked for new housing development under the Council's regeneration scheme with Bellway Homes. Back in 2003, the family were promised that they could stay in their home, even though the surrounding homes were to be demolished. Then in 2005, the Council said they had changed their mind. Hands Off Our Homes has been supporting the family since 2007 with advice and help, and is backing them all the way.

Here is an article from the Yorkshire Post:

Couple win first round in court battle to save home

Published Date: 19 November 2008

By Robert Sutcliffe
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Couple-win-first-round-in.4708582.jp

A MARRIED couple won the first round of a High Court battle yesterday to stop a council knocking down their family home of 25 years. John and Elisa Hynes continued living in their home at Oak Tree Mount, Gipton, even after Leeds City Council demolished most of the rest of their street in 2005.

But the council now says their house must be demolished and has taken steps to obtainan order forcing Mr and Mrs Hynes to sell up and move on. The couple began a legal challenge and were granted permission by Mr Justice Cranston to mount a full judicial review challenge to the decision at the High Court.

The couple claim they have a "legitimate expectation" that the council will honour a promise made in 2003 to allow their home, which they own, to remain standing, despite other demolitions. In papers put before the court the couple's lawyers told how they had relied on the council's "Option 4" promise that they could remain in their home while the housing estate around them was knocked down.

They had been given three other options of what to do when the work began, including being bought out or moved to a council property, but opted to stay in the family home. They then carried out "significant repairs and improvements" to their home before suffering "significant noise, dust, dirt, inconvenience and minor property damage" as surrounding homes were knocked down.

The couple were able to cope with the nuisance and distress in the knowledge that their long-term future in their home was secure. In April, the council decided to obtain a compulsory purchase order for a piece of land and property which includes the Hynes' home.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Mr Justice Cranston granted permission for a full hearing to decide whether the council should be made to rethink its decision. No date has been set for the full hearing, which is expected to last one day.

Gipton families fight back

In recent years, 100s of mainly council tenants in Gipton and Seacroft have been forced out or evicted, their homes demolished and the land grassed over. While some of the housing was poor quality, the way people have been treated by Leeds City Council and the housing ALMOs managing the area has been both dubious and disgraceful.

On Oak Tree Mount in Gipton, however, two families have stood defiant as the housing all around has been bulldozed: Dave and Elisa Hynes of no.11 and Geoff and Elaine Ryecroft of no.7.




The Hynes and Ryecroft families outside the only 4 houses standing in Oak Tree Mount.





“Back in 2003, we got a letter from the ALMO saying they were going to pull down our homes. ‘Over my dead body’, I told them,” explains Dave Hynes of no.11, who has lived here with his wife Elisa for nearly 35 years, bringing up their 3 children.

“So they backtracked and said we could keep our home. But then in July 2005, they changed their minds and said we’d have to leave.” Having bought no.11 under the Right to Buy in the 1990s and spent £1000s renovating it, they now face being served a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) by Leeds City Council.

“We’ve been offered £8200 for the house—where do they expect us to go with that? A 2-bed round the corner is going for £117,000. We don’t stand a chance of getting a mortgage.

The Hynes family, along with their neighbours and friends, the Ryecrofts, have vowed to fight the CPO all the way. “Why should we lose our homes to allow a developer to make a profit. Why can’t they build round us?”

The families have tabled alternative planning proposals that would enable Bellways to build around their homes. However, it appears that Bellways and Leeds City Council will not agree to this because they will lose money - that's right, they are putting profit before people.

In the meantime, the daily uncertainty about when a CPO might be served, and fear and anxiety over their long term future, plague the Gipton familes. Their semi-detached homes are adjoined to two empty, boarded council houses that could be providing two families with much needed, good quality, affordable rented homes but are instead being left to rot and their gardens overgrow.