The History of Salterbeck

Salterbeck is an estate of 1,148 houses which lies at the South end of Workington. It is a clearly defined estate which has borders defined by the railway line which separates it from its neighbouring estate Westfield to the North, Workington’s main cemetery and the sea to the West, Harrington to the South and open fields and farmland to the East. This gives the residents a strong sense of “place”. Generations of the same families have lived here.

Salterbeck was built in stages over decades of expansion in the 20th Century from the 1930’s. Salterbeck remained very much the way it was originally built up to the 1990’s.

The properties were originally predominantly 2 and three bedroom family houses. Before the 1990’s there were only eight, 1 bedroom bungalows on the estate and eight 2 bedroom flats. There were a large number of one bedroom flats based in the main at The Oval, which have since been demolished to make way for The Oval Centre and replaced over the last 10 years with modern, 2 bedroom bungalows, meant for housing the elderly and physically impaired.

Before 1981, the estate was entirely owned by the then Allerdale District Council. With the advent of the Right To Buy in 1981, approximately one third of the houses have since been sold to sitting tenants. The current tenure split is 724 Social rented Housing and 424 privately owned.

In March 1997, Impact Housing Association acquired Salterbeck estate from Allerdale Borough Council after the sitting tenants voted for a Stock Transfer which transferred ownership of the properties and land to Impact from the Local Authority. An intensive 5 year programme was then begun to demolish, rebuild and then refurbish every house in Impact ownership. Impact originally acquired approximately 800 properties in 1999, the Right To Buy was retained by the sitting tenants and continues to be exercised on a regular basis. Recently, the first street in Salterbeck (albeit only 6 properties) became entirely privately owned.

The reason for the investment in Salterbeck was that the estate was seen to be on a downward spiral. People were leaving, there were higher than average levels of crime and the estate was seen as run down and an undesirable place to live. The economic and social factors which caused this are a topic on their own, but included high unemployment, isolation and the breakdown in the traditional family unit.

Prior to, and during, the 1990’s, Salterbeck was in the upper reaches in the measurement of deprivation, not only locally and regionally, but nationally.

To combat this, the residents of Salterbeck demanded something be done. The first step was the forming of a Residents Association which helped secure Single Regeneration Budget status which provided the initial funds for improvement to the housing and environment. Stock Transfer and the massive investment it brought furthered the process.

Salterbeck has now gone from an estate with up to 70 empty properties, no Waiting List and people leaving, to an estate that is fully occupied with a Waiting List of over 100 Applicants and people returning to the estate and wanting to stay. The days of streets full of steel shuttered properties have gone and should not be allowed to return. Impact can now leave empty properties awaiting occupation by an incoming tenant to remain unsecured either with steel shutters or alarms in the knowledge they will not be vandalized. The Police have played no small part in this turnaround.

Impact currently has an Estate Management Agreement with the major service providers on the estate including the Police, Local Authority and the County Council. The local MP, Tony Cunningham, who grew up on the estate, is a signatory to the Agreement. Regular Police liaison meetings are held with Residents and Impact Staff and a wide range of Social events are promoted. Specialized Staff are employed to promote youth activities and run young people’s events and activities for all age ranges. Involvement includes work from Mother & baby and toddler activities through children and youth projects right through to groups, events and activities for the elderly. The Oval Centre is the hub of this work. Work surrounding health issues is already taking place and the involvement of Health professionals and Organizations is seen as a crucial part of the holistic approach to the well being of the residents of the estate as a whole.

This is a very brief and approximate summary of Salterbeck’s history. There is much, much more. Projects on the environment, including major works to turn two local reservoirs into amenities, are a small part of extensive environmental work. The building programme continues with three more purpose built bungalows due to be completed in March next year. From eight one bedroom bungalows, Impact now has 98, some specially built for wheelchair users and many with walk-in showers. Ongoing work with adaptations and provision of housing tailored to the communities needs, are substantial. A recent clean up campaign was extremely successful. Crime rates have fallen, living standards increased. As always, there is more to do and the work continues.