And to the people who shouted through my letterbox.

 

Pathfinder was a radical idea by the Labour Government to revitalise depressed urban areas of England & Wales. It's plan was to demolish old housing stock - mainly terraced housing and replace it with new build homes and community areas in which it was hoped people would flourish.

The properties involved were a combination of owner occupied homes, privately rented and council tenanted dwellings.

Initiated in 2002 the £2.2 billion plan was initially embraced by the population but began to suffer   problems as the housing market collapsed and private investors pulled out of the scheme. The Government also failed to understand how people were attached to their neighbourhoods. A number of people - mainly owners-occupiers didn't want to  sell up and leave and made life difficult for developers who were unable to commence demolition.

Pathfinder was finally cancelled by the Coalition Government in 2011  leaving many of the project areas without the promised regeneration, but blighting the communities it touched with thousands of empty properties shuttered up.

In Middlesborough some residents refused to abandon their homes and still remain amongst the empty streets. Little is seen of them but the evidence of their existence can sometimes be found.......