England Footballer Micah Richards Lets Down The Community Where He Grew Up

Growing old in Cameron’s ‘austerity Britain’ is far from easy, especially if you’re Black and working-class, but at least the elderly residents of Chapeltown’s UCA House, a residential care home owned by the United Caribbean Association, were part of a stable and caring community. They were also very much part of the wider community of Chapeltown, where most of them had lived for decades, and where many of their children and grandchildren lived close by. UCA House was situated on Hall Lane in a quiet, leafy part of the Chapeltown conservation area, where the evenings are so quiet, different types of birdsong can easily be distinguished, and where most of the nocturnal visitors to the area are foxes, bats, or hedgehogs. It is a tranquil place where local residents live contentedly, feeling lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

Unfortunately, for the former residents of UCA house, they were uprooted last year when the care home was closed. Local residents wondered about the future of the building, but then it was bought by a ‘mystery buyer’, someone who had grown up in Chapeltown and so, it was said, understood the needs of the local community. The offer made for the building was accepted on the basis that it would be re-opened as a residential care home, privately-run, but still of some benefit to the local community. The sale was overseen by the Charities Commission.

It did not take long for work to start on the building, and then (and only then) a planning application was submitted to turn it, not back into a care home, but into flats for 25 students. Most local residents only learned of this after the application was already under consideration, and many will not be aware of it even now it has been quietly approved, which it was despite a number of objections, and in spite of a condition when planning permission was originally granted for most of the building that it could only be used as a residential home for the elderly, a condition also contained in the deeds for the property.

Leeds is already full of student flats, and opening yet more of them in what has until now been a quiet residential area, is completely at odds with the needs of local people and will change the character of this part of the Chapeltown conservation area irreparably, increasing traffic, environmental and noise pollution, and if Woodhouse and Hyde Park can be taken as examples, dramatically increasing street crime (muggings, burglary) and the invasive policing (CCTV, stop and search) that comes with it.

The students who currently live in Chapeltown have moved into a welcoming and diverse community, of which they form part, and many stay on after their studies are completed. They live in the ample rented accommodation already available here, as well as in property owned by Leeds City Council and by various housing associations and housing co-ops, which provide more secure long-term accommodation. Replacing a community resource such as UCA House with a block of privately-owned student flats is quite a different scenario, and one which is bound to cause problems, particularly in a working-class, ethnically-diverse area. There is one simple motivating factor behind this - money - coupled with a total lack of care, respect, and responsibility in terms of the community.

So who is behind this money-grubbing scheme, which seems to have been steam-rollered through by Leeds City Council at a closed planning meeting, despite local objections and with no proper public consultation?, Who could so cruelly deceive the elderly trustees of UCA House, the local residents network, and the Charities Commission, as appears to have happened, taking advantage of a tragic situation (one trustee was literally on her death-bed) and of relatively cheap property prices in Chapeltown to set themselves up as a student mega-landlord? Who would so flagrantly ignore the genuine needs of the community and be so insensitive as to take a predominately black care home and replace it with flats for students, who will certainly be predominately white? Unfortunately, it IS a ‘local lad’ behind this, none other than England and Manchester City footballer Micah Richards.

Mr Richards’ money undoubtedly means that his parents, Heather and Lincoln, will not have to grow old in a state or charity-run care home, indeed since they are fronting the company who so deftly negotiated the purchase of UCA House, they will in all likelihood be able to take care of their own financial needs. Most of the population of Chapeltown do not have that kind of money to fall back upon however, and when they become old and infirm and have to go into care, it would be hugely beneficial for them to be able to remain in the area in which they have lived, in many cases for much or all of their lives. UCA House fulfilled that function, but now it is no longer to play any useful part in the community of Chapeltown because of what appears to be a certain amount of corrupt practice.

As for the other local residents on Hall Lane and its neighbouring streets, their days (and nights) of peace and quiet will soon be over. Car traffic will multiply, noise will increase, takeaway food shops will inevitably appear, and so litter will sky-rocket. The small peaceful park that sits at the top of Back Sholebroke Avenue opposite what will soon be student bedrooms and a busy car-park and taxi dropping-off point, will be transformed into a place of blaring music, empty beer-cans, and grass that is burnt and discoloured by disposable barbecues. The quiet lane will no doubt soon see its first dead fox as takeaway delivery drivers’ speed to their next midnight rendezvous.

Such is the potential impact on the area that one local resident has already packed his bags, with others likely to follow, further assisting in the creeping gentrification of the area as other profiteers greedily eye the empty properties and neighbouring Chapel Allerton, predominately white and middle-class, seeps further and further down Chapeltown Road.

According to his official biography, Micah Richards is “heavily involved in several charitable projects, using his growing reputation to the benefit of the less privileged”. Very laudable, but in the case of UCA house, it’s a shame Mr Richards’ charitable works don’t extend to the area where he grew up. Local residents hope he’ll think again.