There is an estimated £120 million backlog of repairs needed in private housing in Derby. It is not possible or appropriate for us to offer to help owners of these properties in all cases.
Homeowners are responsible for maintaining their homes and most will have to pay for their own repairs during the normal ongoing maintenance of the property without grant help. The Council doing nothing, however, would have serious consequences for the city. Areas where people are least able to afford repairs would decline even more, leading to falling house prices, abandoned properties and slum conditions. Eventually there would have to be large-scale demolition resulting in large scale disruption and resettlement problems costing millions of pounds.
Our policy is aimed at investing in Derby’s private housing – a major public asset in the long term – in areas of decline. The help provided by the Council is intended to give home owners an initial boost to help them bring the house back up to an acceptable and safe standard. This gives the owner confidence to further invest their own money in the property by carrying out any further improvements which may be required without the need for further Council funding.
We intend to keep improving old, inner-city areas with serious housing problems using a rolling programme of designated areas. When taking the tough decisions on which areas to tackle, we consider all housing, socio-economic and environmental conditions, land use, the views of residents and businesses and the Council’s wider regeneration priorities.
In these areas, major work is for immediate and long-term improvement to an area. These are usually group repair schemes, environmental improvements and sometimes selective demolition.
If you live in a designated area, where a group repair scheme is being prepared you will not need to contact us or ask to be included on a ‘waiting list’; although it may be useful to have your details and interest on file. When a scheme is being developed in your particular area we will deliver newsletters to tell you to inform you what is happening generally. We will also write to contact you directly if your home is to be included as part of a particular scheme.
Rosehill market renewal area
The Rosehill Market Renewal area extends from Hartington St down to the areas of housing adjacent to the old baseball ground. The housing in this area was found to be the area within the City with the greatest number of sub standard properties. Urgent intervention was therefore required by the Council to prevent the area spiralling downwards into unrecoverable decline. Work started in 2007 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. To date 26 Group repair schemes have been formed and improvements have been completed to around 743 houses.
Work started in June 2003 and was completed at the end of 2007. In total 22 number Group repair schemes were formed and various repairs were carried out to a total of around 950 privately owned houses in Osmaston.
The Hartington Street Renewal Area was officially declared on 11 June 2002 following a nine-month long study and consultation period. Repairs were carried out to around 50 houses in the area. In conjunction with the housing repair works new railings were installed on both sides of the street and the rear access lanes were resurfaced to improve access.
Rosehill Housing Improvement Zone
Work started in January 1999 and was completed in June 2003. At the end of the project, 328 houses had been improved through 16 group repair schemes.
Pear Tree Renewal Area
The largest urban renewal programme to be completed so far in Derby saw 1755 houses improved through 96 group repair schemes. Work to the first scheme started in Autumn 1992 and in March 2003 - ten years later - the final scheme was completed. Click above for more details of the area and how it was improved.
St Mark's Renewal Area
This was the second renewal area declared in Derby. Work started in Autumn 1994 and was completed in January 2001. In just over six years, 317 houses were improved in 37 group repair schemes.
Group repair schemes are major external renovation and refurbishment to whole blocks of houses or complete streets in one contract. The works in a typical group repair scheme include new roof coverings, gutters and down pipes, replacement upvc windows and doors, structural repairs to the building fabric, painting and pointing, new front boundary walls and gates, and improved insulation. Other environmental improvement works may also be included where considered to be necessary to improve the general environment and appearance of the area.
Normanton Home Zone
Derby City Council was awarded £1 million in January 2002 from the Government’s £30 million Home Zone Challenge Fund for the Normanton Home Zone. This was one of the highest awards for any council in the country. Click above for more details of the Home Zone.
You can use this link to download Derby City Council's Housing Renewal Policy 2007-10 
(52 pages, 490Kb).
Links to other Private Sector Housing web pages:
For more advice and information:
Please contact us using the details below, or you can use the contact form at the bottom of this page:
Pear Tree Home Improvement Centre
182 Pear Tree Road,
Derby
DE23 8NQ
Telephone: 01332 718800
Fax: 01332 293129
Minicom: 01332 256666
Email: housing.grants@derby.gov.uk