Coventry pensioner's heartbreak as garage to be flattened

[dutchman]

83-year-old Jean Jackson's garage is one of eight earmarked for demolition in Cheylesmore



A Coventry pensioner says she feels “kicked in the gut” after being told the garage where she keeps her car is going top be demolished. Jean Jackson, aged 83, and other residents in Brisbane Close, Cheylesmore, have been told the garages they rent from Citizen Housing are to be flattened to make way for a new housing development.

Jean relies on her car to get around and always stores it in the garage close to her property. She says she is worried about it getting stolen or damaged if she parks it on the road.

She said: “There is a row of eight garages and they are all fully occupied. Now Citizen Housing have written to us - the letter has the heading ‘creation of more affordable housing’.

“Their plans are to demolish these eight garages as soon as possible. I feel like I have been kicked in the gut. Citizen said ‘we advise you we need to formally serve notice for you to vacate the garage you rent.”

Jean said all the residents who rent the garages are upset by the plans and the fact they are losing their garages. She said Citizen mentioned a one-week notice period but said they realised this would not offer people enough time to clear their garages so would extend the period to four weeks.

They said the garages would need to be vacated by October 3 and that any items left after this date would be ‘disposed of’. Jean, who owns her property in Brisbane Close but rents her garage from Citizen Housing, added: “I am an 83-year-old woman and I keep my car in the garage at all times. And I am having walking difficulties so totally rely on it.

“I use it to go shopping, to go to the doctors and to go to church. It helps me to get around.

“This is really breaking my heart. It is not something I was expecting to happen.”

[dutchman]

As far as I can tell Citizen own quite a few garage sites in Cheylemore, I assume they have similar plans for those?