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“We’ve found our forever home,” said Tanya*.
She’s been supported by Blackpool Council to find a new home close to Revoe, as part of regeneration plans for the area.
The family-of-seven has now been able to make a much-needed move from a two-bed mid-terrace to a five-bedroom house.
“We’re all ten times happier,” Tanya said of the new home. “We’re just a few minutes from the park now but still close to the kids’ schools. With more space, it’s little things like we could do a proper Easter egg hunt around the house this year.”
They had outgrown their rental home on Montrose Avenue - part of the area earmarked to make way for new, improved housing and community green spaces, as part of a £90m project to restore Central Drive back to its heyday. Despite efforts to move over the last few years, Tanya said she and her husband - who works as a self-employed welder and fabricator - kept facing knockbacks.
“We’d lived there for about eight years, but we’ve been looking to move even before all this,” she explained. “It just wasn’t happening. Some landlords put it down to my husband being self-employed, and some didn’t want you being on benefits, which I am, and then some don’t want children or pets. Then last year, Sonia and Julie from the council knocked on our door. I couldn’t have asked for better people. We’d heard rumours about what was going on but they explained it all then did things like helped us with ID and letting applications. We were so relieved.”
After shortlisting three properties, the family had their new rental confirmed within a week of viewing.
“Staying close to our community and the kids’ schools was important to me.”
The new home, between Park Road and Whitegate Drive, meets the family’s needs much better, Tanya has said. With five children aged between one and eight, and one with disabilities, she was keen to have more space:
“We just wanted better for the children,” she said. "After our first night in the new house, they all woke up more refreshed and happier. My eldest son always needed his own room because of his needs, and he’s settled really well. Now my eldest daughter and baby son each have their own room too, and for her she’s just ten times better in herself already. They’ve all got more space to play and also space away from each other which they need as they grow up. And now when I say ‘it’s bedtime’ they’ll all go straight up, and they go down to sleep much better. We’ve got a front room again, too – we had to turn the old one into a bedroom. We’re still near the kids’ schools which was important to me, but we’re in an area where there’s more families and just a few minutes from Stanley Park. It’s a forever home, really.”
“It’s worked out brilliant for us – I hope others feel reassured about their moves.”
Tanya now hopes her story will reassure others who are currently in the process of moving as part of the central housing regeneration scheme.
“I know we had neighbours who felt worried. I’ve got a friend who’ll have to move as part of the regeneration, but she knows, from seeing what we’ve had, that she can get help too. It’s definitely put her mind at rest,” she said. “It’s worked out brilliantly for us and all the help we’ve had has been brilliant.”
Cllr Neal Brookes, Deputy Leader of Blackpool Council, said:
“Creating homes that people want to live in and raise their children is exactly our aim with the central housing regeneration. We want to create a desirable neighbourhood, where children have space to play, learn and grow, and adults and families can prosper. As the project progresses, there are still plenty of housing options in the area and we are supporting people who want to stay local. The council is on hand to help anyone affected to find alternative accommodation or navigate the sale and purchase of homes. Families don’t need to lose links to their existing community, as Tanya’s story demonstrates. I’m so pleased she and her family have had such a positive experience and we wish them every happiness in their new home.”
*Name changed to protect privacy.