By Michelle Canning Smith
A STRABANE family is calling for houses in the Springhill Park estate to be demolished or relet after an arson attack on one empty property has left them in fear of their lives.
Ann Graham and her daughters Noleen and Emma, together with their three young children, occupy three houses in a row of 11, four of which are derelict.
On Sunday night, youths set fire to one of the derelict houses, two doors away from Ann's home. It's the third time that the house has been set on fire.
Ann and her daughters say it's time for the Housing Executive to act by either demolishing the derelict dwellings in the row, or renovate and relet the houses.
Mrs Graham is now considering legal action if something is not done to safeguard residents.
But the Executive has said it will put proposals to tenants in the next few weeks that will include demolishing the 'void properties'.
Ann Graham spoke to the Strabane Chronicle this week and expressed her fear that someone will die, either residents, fire-fighters called out to tackle the blazes or the young people who are starting the fires.
"These properties have been derelict some two to three years, and we are living in the middle of the row.
"These houses are shuttered up with steel on the windows but young people managed to gain access sometime around 9pm through a side panel and set fire to the house, two doors away from me.
"I didn't even know the house was on fire until a neighbour alerted me. The fire itself was confined to the inside of the house but the smoke travelled through the roofspaces into the other properties.
"This is the third time that this house has been set on fire. On one previous occasion a fire was started at 4.30am and only for the smoke alarms, we wouldn't have known."
As far as Ann is concerned the responsibility lies solely with the Housing Executive and she is scathing in her criticism of what she sees as their lack of action.
"As far as I am concerned the responsibility for these houses lies with the Executive. We have asked them to demolish the derelict houses but they tell us they can't because they were built with taxpayers money. When they have been asked to do the houses up and relet them, we are told it would take too much money.
"We really are in stalemate with the Executive on this."
She said proposals have been mooted to demolish the row, but Mrs Graham said she has lived there for some eight years, her daughters live beside her, and she has no intention of leaving her home.
"We don't want to lose our homes, we just want them to do something with the derelict houses. It seems that the buck is just being passed."
Her daughter Emma, a mother of two young children, aged seven and three, said the situation is taking a toll on her.
"I have two children so the dangers are just terrible. Not only that the lives of the fire-fighters are being placed at risk when they have to tackle a blaze, and all that for a derelict house. The young people themselves could be burnt to death because they are entering the house by a very small opening."
She too is unhappy with her contact with the Executive.
He mum Ann says she feels that because the family live in Springhill they are being treated as 'out of sight, out of mind.'
"There are 11 people living in the row and they just want something done. We feel like we are being forced out of our homes. At the end of the day the Executive is 100 per cent responsible for the houses so accountability must lie with them.
"They just need to make a decision on these derelict houses."
The Housing Executive has said that initial proposals for the regeneration of the estate will be presented to tenants within the next few weeks.
These proposals include an option to demolish the void properties in the estate.
A spokeswoman sad, "We have carried out a survey of the estate and are currently developing an state regeneration strategy to address any outstanding issues. This strategy is aimed at enhancing the general environment within the estate.
She said the Executive had spent £1.3 million improving homes on the estate in the last four yeas.
Community worker, Paul Gallagher, who lives on the estate said, "The community group cannot gate-keep this estate, we can't watch over these houses although we are working with the Housing Executive and hope to see some positive action coming from the consultation.
"We can't police the area and whilst the derelict houses are shuttered, if people are intent on gaining entry, they will. There are very little measures that will keep them out."
