By Victoria Brenan

Last updated at 10:24, Saturday, 01 November 2008

Carlisle City Council will come under renewed pressure from Save Our Street campaigners next week when they are questioned over future plans at a meeting.

The residents of Corporation Road and Warwick Street say they have been left in limbo following uncertainty as to what will happen to their homes.

The city’s new Carlisle Renaissance board last month shelved controversial redevelopment plans for the Rickergate area.

Chairman Bryan Gray said the scheme for a plaza with shops, flats, offices and a four-star hotel was no longer “being pursued”.

But city council leader Mike Mitchelson later hinted that redevelopment could go ahead at a later date.

This has prompted the Save Our Streets group, which is opposed to the demolition of homes, to demand that Renaissance officials come clean with their intentions.

Simon Osman, who has a house in Warwick Street, yesterday accused the council of wasting money buying properties in the area when they thought it would be redeveloped, only to become ‘stuck’ with them now the scheme had been mothballed.

“They don’t know what they are doing,” he said.

“We’ve been asking questions at council meetings over the past 12 months and at no time have we got a satisfactory answer.”

Mr Osman will question council leaders at a meeting in the Civic Centre on Tuesday night. He said the uncertainty hanging over the future of homes in the area was affecting house prices.

Mr Mitchelson denied there was a blight on Rickergate. He said: “We have looked in some detail at its potential and following the Local Plan Inquiry recommendations, will prepare a planning brief for the area.”

First published at 09:48, Saturday, 01 November 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk