THE two remaining tower blocks on Hull's Orchard Park estate are to be demolished after a U-turn by city councillors.
Two years ago, cabinet councillors agreed to retain the high-rise Gorthorpe and Kinthorpe flats and include them in a new £15.3m housing investment programme for the area.
At the time, the plan was to fully modernise the last of the 1960s tower blocks, which once dominated the estate's skyline.
But now councillors have given the go-ahead for their demolition after deciding refurbishing the flats would be too costly.
Gary Rumkee, 54, has lived in the shadow of the flats in Gorthorpe since he was six years old.
He said: "I remember when they were being built.
"Getting rid of them once and for all is the best thing that could happen to this place.
"I know they were talking about refurbishing them but that would have just been a waste of money.
"The area has had its ups and downs over the years and it's not great at the minute, but this will help.
"The bushes around the flats attract kids, who make dens in them. It's not a safe place to go past at times."
Stanley Brown, 71, also watched the Gorthorpe flats being built.
"Things started going downhill when they began putting druggies in there," he said.
"You would get someone throwing a brick from one of the windows and then others would join in.
"At one time they used to have security guards in there, but when they went it was everyone for themselves. They might be empty now, but I can't wait to see the back of them.
"There are a lot of parking problems around here, so maybe they can create a bit more space when the flats have gone."
Councillor John Black, cabinet portfolio for housing, said the decision to demolish the two blocks had been taken after a review of revised estimated costs associated with their refurbishment.
He said: "The original idea was to refurbish the flats, but since that decision was taken there have been significant changes to the proposed way we were going to fund the work.
"Some of the money was going to come from feed-in energy tariffs but then the Government stopped that funding.
"We were also going to use receipts from right-to-buy sales but that money can now only be used for new-build projects, not refurbishments.
"The same applied to funding from the Government's New Homes Bonus scheme, which, again, only allows us to fund new build.
"In the end, the cost between refurbishment and going for a different option of new-build was not even close.
"There was such a significant difference that going for refurbishment was just not financially feasible."
The flats will be replaced with 94 one and two-bedroom council houses.
Laura Carr, the council's neighbourhood and housing manager, said: "With the wider regeneration of Orchard Park and the many benefits of building new energy-efficient properties, coupled with the cost to refurbish the towers, a decision has been made to demolish Kinthorpe and Gorthorpe and build 94 new one and two-bedroomed council homes to replace them, in partnership with the Riverside housing group."Building new homes will complement the ongoing development and regeneration of this priority area, which includes the development of up to 300 new homes, thermal efficiency improvements to existing properties and the development of a vibrant new shopping area."
• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
•Politics news for Hull and East Riding
