My Mainway, Lancaster

MyMainway is an exciting and ambitious project to improve the Mainway estate for all residents.

Built back in the 1960s, and refurbished in the 1990s, the 257 council homes on Mainway are reaching the point where they need significant investment to address maintenance issues and make them safe and secure for the future.

Doing nothing is not an option, and so the council, working with the Beyond Imagination team at Lancaster University, is exploring ways in which improvements could be made to the homes of all those living on Mainway.

An extensive consultation exercise has taken place to seek Tenant views through a range of events and other activities, with a clear picture emerging of a desire to retain a cohesive community at the Mainway location, to continue social housing at the location to achieve that, and therefore to support a significant renewal of the housing stock. 70% of the Tenants were in favour of change.

MyMainway behind the scenes

Have a look at the My Mainway engagement so far we have had so far:

Touring Walk around Mainway with its Resident	Walking with Lancaster Councillor	Door to door engagement
New Visions Drop-in Session	Scrawl on the Wall	My Mainway Children's Event
Memories, realities, and dreams of My Mainway Engagement

MyMainway is an exciting and ambitious project to improve the Mainway estate for all residents.

MyMainway behind the scenes

Have a look at the My Mainway engagement so far we have had so far:

Touring Walk around Mainway with its Resident	Walking with Lancaster Councillor	Door to door engagement
New Visions Drop-in Session	Scrawl on the Wall	My Mainway Children's Event
Memories, realities, and dreams of My Mainway Engagement

Touring Walk around Mainway with its Residents

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The first event was a walk around Mainway on 6^th August 2020. The idea was to explore Mainway from the residents perspective. There were there walks: one in the morning, one in the afternoon and the last one in the evening. 30 people joined us to talk about the outdoor and indoor spaces of Mainway.
During each walk, residents picked the stops of the walk and shared their memories, pointed out some of the issues face, and highlighted things to change. Soon enough the residents said that the area suffers from issues such as drug and alcohol use/consumption.
At the beginning of each walk, the residents discussed the redevelopment project with representatives from Lancaster City Council. Some residents expressed their scepticism about the whole engagement process. One of them believed that Lancaster City Council has already a redevelopment plan with less social homes and an increment of private houses. Additionally, some residents expressed that sometimes they need to share communal spaces or live door to door with dangerous people. They proposed to set up a tenant’s association as a way to enhance communications. In general, we found out that residents feel stressed and uncomfortable with the idea of being moved out if the redevelopment implies knocking down the buildings. As one of the residents said:
“The main thing is that say we all have to get out. That is going to be a problem surely.”
http://imagination.lancaster.ac.uk/update/touring-walk-around-mainway-with-its-residents/