'Pull down these slums' HODGE HILL: Families' long-running fight to get vandal-invested homes demolished.

Byline: By Neil Elkes

CITY housing bosses are refusing to pull down a row of derelict houses used as drug dens and over run by vandals and arsonists.

Homeowners living opposite the properties in Galloway Avenue, Buckland End, Hodge Hill say their lives are being made a misery by the run down houses.

Most homes in the road, where Euro-MP and former television star Robert Kilroy-Silk grew up, have been boarded up for several years and left to vandals and drugs addicts.

And it is two years since Conservative leader Michael Howard visited the street during a by-election campaign and saw the properties left abandoned and abused.

Now Hodge Hill MP Liam Byrne has taken up the cause and is demanding the council housing department demolishes the homes as soon as possible.

The Labour MP was told that the council is waiting for gas supplier Central Networks to turn off the supply.

Liam said: "We were promised that these houses would be gone soon - but what soon means to Birmingham City Council is anyone's guess. While the council and Central Networks sit on their hands, residents have to put up with night after night of youths using the houses as hangouts, and drug addicts using them as crack dens. No one should have to put up with this."

Pat Neaves, 61, who has lived in the road for 40 years, said: "Our lives are being made hell by these houses. They never stay boarded up for long before the vandals are back.

"They have been stripped bare, set fire to, used as escape routes for thieves and muggers. The gardens are all overgrown.

"We have been promised this will be dealt with years ago, but we are still waiting."

City cabinet member for housing Coun John Lines claimed the homes would be demolished once the gas supply is fully disconnected.

He said: "The regeneration of Bucklands End is replacing defective 'Smith's' houses with a mix of family homes in partnership with Waterloo Housing Association.

"Demolition will proceed once Birmingham City Council have received confirmation that all services have been disconnected."

He said the homes were fully secure and there are twice weekly inspections plus a weekly clear up to tackle problems and vandalism.

CAPTION(S):

FORMER RESIDENT... Kilroy-Silk.' FLASHBACK... Buckland End residents met the then Tory leader Michael Howard two years ago to air their concerns.' CAMPAIGN... MP Liam Byrne.