Life after moving out of Seven Sisters

It’s a hot summer’s day at Seven Sisters, but Tony Warner looks over a lifeless stretch of concrete that connects the iconic Rochdale tower blocks.

The seven 1960s behemoths, actually named College Bank, used to be a hive of activity in their heyday. Now almost all of the 761 flats are empty.

Tony’s old flat is empty now too. The 60-year-old was one of 229 who received a letter from landlord Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) back in October saying they would all be moving out. He returned to his old stomping ground to talk to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about his life after leaving his home of 19 years.

And Tony is glad he left.

Peering out over the expanse of emptiness, not a soul walks by as he discusses how his life has altered dramatically.

“The community spirit has gone at College Bank now,” Tony explained. “There isn’t even a shop here now.

“You’ve got to walk all the way to town for a bottle of milk in the morning and a paper now. When people started leaving you didn’t see anyone. You could die in those flats and no one would know you were there.

“Before the regeneration I was one of those that said I’m not going. But last year, my god it was cold.

“It felt about minus 10 degrees. It was my own fault because RBH offered to fix the issues with my flat. It was so cold I had to go to bed with my hat and coat on just to keep warm.

“I know I can retire where I am now and pop off. I would tell other people that they need to move out now and see what’s out there. They’re spending too much on utilities bills.

“All that extra money in the pocket – what’s not to like. I showed my mate all the things I’ve got when I moved out and he said ‘I’m moving’. He loves it now.”

Tony moved into the Dunkirk Rise block back in 2007. He says he was happy there for a long time before the plan to get rid the blocks reared its ugly head.

In 2017, RBH revealed proposals to demolish four of the high-rises and redevelop them. This sparked local backlash, with local campaigners fighting to stop the plans.

Although demolition was eventually ruled out in 2023, a twist in the tale came last October when RBH put ‘all options back on the table’. After coming out of an ‘exclusivity agreement’ with Legal and General, which looked into a cost-effective way to refurbish Mitchell Hey, Dunkirk Rise, Tentercroft and Town Mill Brow tower blocks, the social housing operator refused to rule out razing them to the ground.

Still, RBH says no decision on the future of the tower blocks has been made. But campaigners from the ‘Save the Seven Sisters’ group (ST7S) believe the eviction of all tenants due to safety issues is suspicious.

Tony wasn’t part of the campaign group, but for a while he was one of those adamant he’d be staying in the tower blocks no matter what. His sky-high utility bills are what eventually spurred him on to leave.

He added: “The regeneration programme has started twice. One was around 10 years ago and the flats were full then.

“I popped down where I wanted to go and gave them a ring, but then I was on my own as I can’t do computers etc. So I thought, ‘sod it, I’ll just stay here’.

“Then last October I got the letter to say you need to move out. Everyone thought we had to be out by Christmas. I thought I was in trouble. So I went to see the gang in the office and they offered me the full package.”

After sampling a few options Tony eventually got the home he wanted on the Kirkholt housing estate with a front and back garden.

“There were little birds waking me up, no noise. When you’re in the flats people are walking above you slamming doors, screaming and shouting.

“It has properly changed my life. My stress has come down, my health has gotten better. All because I’ve come out of here.

“It was cold here. I had one little fan heater when I was in the flats. It cost me £125 a week for that one little heater. I couldn’t heat the kitchen or the water properly.

“The place I’ve got now is £67 a month for gas and electricity, not £125 a week like in the flat.”

Despite his elation on moving out of the Seven Sisters Tony said he would like to see the blocks refurbished rather than demolished. This was a similar theme across all the residents the LDRS spoke to – there was still love for the iconic tower blocks.

John and Sandra Hurn lived in the Tentercroft block for 19 years until they moved to Foxgloves Close recently. They are both happy to be out of the blocks, but they want them to remain part of Rochdale’s skyline.

Much like Tony, they were thankful to RBH’s housing team for supporting their move. John said: “We had 10 years of them saying all these regeneration things would be done. Then they eventually gave us notice and we panicked at first.

“But I couldn’t give the RBH team enough credit. They did everything for us.

“When they sent the final notice that we had to be out in 18 months we thought ‘if we have to move, we’ll go where we want to go’.

“It was the stage where we just had to get out. Honestly we wouldn’t have managed it by ourselves.

“People didn’t trust RBH that much because they couldn’t change what was happening. But they did a lot for us when Tentacroft flooded last year and that changed our minds about them.

“We had a friend living next door to us and he had been there for 40+ years and is deep rooted in that flat.

“Every time we see him we just tell him to get out while he still can. The longer you wait the less option you’ll get for where you’ll move.”

The 75-year-old stopped work at 60 to care for Sandra, whose health suffered following a stroke. She has since recovered but struggled with the stairs on the multiple occasions the lift in the Tentercroft block broke down.

Sandra added: “I loved it there but I’m glad we’re here. We loved the security of the flat more than anything.

“We were on the ninth floor. It was very big as well and we had everything around us.

“We’ve got our garden here and it’s just as big as the flat. Similar distance to the town centre as well.

“It has helped me to come here as I don’t have to go up and down that lift every morning. We don’t have to worry if the lift is working or not, if we’ll get a parking space.

“We were in constant stress. We just had enough and we’re better for it. I’m glad we made this move. I would tell the others to get out while they still can.”

One former College Bank resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, says she aw structural issues first hand everyday. Stating her reasons for taking the decision to move out, she said: “When my window broke they came to fix it and said ‘they don’t make these parts anymore’. I think the blocks are just past their best now.

“The regeneration was looking promising when Legal and General were in. I remember an old lady asking if she could go back to her old flat, but then I started to wonder whether she could actually do that considering how long it would take… You would wake up in the morning and think there is this problem and that problem. There are other parts of life going on and I can’t invest the time in this campaign.

“It got to the point where life in the flats wasn’t worth saving. The pigeons drove me insane because of the amount of emptiness.

“The pigeons have really taken over now.”

The former Tentercroft resident has now moved to the edge of the town centre. She has grass outside and the birds outside are finally something other than pigeons.

Not everyone is happy with their move though, according to ST7S campaign leader Mark Slater. He expressed happiness for those who have found better places to live, but is adamant that is not the experience of all 64 households that have moved out since October.

Mark said: “We have spoken to people who are extremely unhappy with where they have been put.”

He added: “Of course people will be happier moving out because they have a bad quality of living now.

“RBH have left people to suffer. There is no surprise people are happy with moving out to better properties because RBH let them run down.

“Despite RBH saying they haven’t made a decision on the blocks, it’s quite clear in our opinion that a decision has been made (to demolish).”

RBH have refuted claims they have purposely let the blocks get run down. The social housing landlord says they are still pumping money into maintaining College Bank.

Bosses at RBH say they are actually losing huge sums of money each year on the blocks due to maintenance costs and paying quadruple council tax on hundreds of flats due to them being empty for so long.

Tenants would need to move out no matter the decision over the future of the blocks. The scale of refurbishment work, if RBH decides against demolition, is expected to be massive and cost millions of pounds to complete.

Hannah Fleming, director of regeneration and development at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, said: “We have not allowed College Bank to deteriorate. We spend an average of half a million pounds each year on maintaining the seven blocks, spending money on a range of maintenance works and carrying out inspections and safety works year-round to keep our customers safe.

“We have also carried out additional works and expenditure each year, including the installation of additional fire protection, essential electrical safety upgrades, works to the ageing water systems and much more.

“However, we agree we are now at the point where this ongoing investment is not enough and very substantial works, which would involve stripping back the blocks entirely and building them back out from the concrete core, would be needed to continue to keep College Bank safe and make the buildings fit for the future.

“We talk to our customers in College Bank every day and the vast majority of them are telling us they are happy with their moves – from families who now have separate bedrooms for the first time to others who are now in homes better suited to their needs, or have seen their utility bills become far cheaper. While we appreciate everyone’s move will be different and there may be issues we are not aware of, we can only solve problems if people come and talk to us about them.

“We have not yet made a decision on future plans for the seven blocks. Should they be refurbished, it is our intention to offer a right to return for anyone wishing to if it meets their needs, while accepting that whatever the future of College Bank holds, the timeline for people being rehoused there would be many years in the making.”

Safety issues flagged in a recent building survey were the reason behind the October decision to move everyone out. Structural and electrical issues, problems with the water pumping system, roof damage, and the ever-increasing costs for customers to heat and light their homes were all raised in the surveys.

It is expected to take until April 2027 to move all tenants out of the blocks. RBH says 100 people have accepted offers to move out so far, with 64 having already gone.

The future of the Seven Sisters remainw up in the air. No timeline on when RBH will announce refurbishment or demolition has been set out.