We beat them once, we can beat them again with your help!

We, the residents of Sugar Hill Close and Wordsworth Drive in Oulton, need to raise enough money to fund legal assistance when our landlord's appeal to demolish our houses is heard. Any pennies or pounds you can share would be gratefully received.

The backstory:

Just over two years ago, our landlord submitted a planning application to demolish our beloved low-income tenant estate and build new, executive housing. We fought hard against this, highlighting that NHS workers, teachers, carers and other low-income families have no other affordable housing options in the area. Plus, these houses have been our homes for decades (for some over 50 years)!

In October 2019 we won a small battle: Leeds City Council rejected our landlord Pemberstone's planning application. The wonderful councillors sat around that board argued that there was no justification for breaking up a community, an estate of long-time friends and neighbours who offer a vital safety net to each other. They also argued that to make 60+ families homeless when there was no provision of council housing in the Leeds area would be reprehensible. It was a momentous decision. Leeds City Council recognised that community matters, even on a private housing estate.

Thank you to everyone who supported us during those worrying months and years - through your solidarity and your donations, you helped us win that fight. Please help us again.

We're still here and we're still together - a support network that's proving even more important in these worrying times. So many people in this estate are key workers, or are themselves incredibly vulnerable to coronavirus.

In the midst of all this, Pemberstone have submitted an appeal. They want to plough ahead with the development regardless. They want to demolish our historic homes. They want to break up our close community.

Thanks from the bottom of our hearts x