Get out, we want your house.

Good afternoon, or is it Good evening. 

I've been out today. Coming up later will be photo's and a video from the Quilt and Sewing Fair at Newark Showground.

I started to prepare this post when I got back on Thursday but didn't get round to finishing it. I took some photo's on the outskirts of Derby as I was passing through, inspired by this video I found about a week ago. Charles Veitch is an investigative journalist, and puts himself out there in the middle of all the mayhem. He comes across as someone a bit bolshie and not afraid to voice his opinion. You might even think he looks a bit rough on the outside, but he is a smart guy. I watched an earlier video from a few years ago when he describes his upbringing, his education, and and how he came to live in different parts of the world.  

I have copied a few of the comments underneath this video which sheds some light on how 16 houses in Derby came to be abandoned. 

Expansion of the adjacent A38 dual carriageway. They were subject to compulsory purchase orders several years ago.

m38 motorway ️ £646 million over 4 years , starting in March 2026

They've been looking to widen the roads/A38 near there for years. Buildings and trees etc removed. Most people in these houses were simply bought out. I think the last person finally left but stayed in their house there, refusing to budge, for a long while after all the others were boarded up.

The row of boarded-up homes in central Derby, specifically those on Queensway near Markeaton Island, are vacant due to a long-standing plan to widen the A38 road. The properties were acquired by National Highways (previously the Highways Agency) through compulsory purchase orders for the now-cancelled road-widening project.

One house belonged to Gail Roberts who was the last to leave. See Derbyshire Live article "Last woman standing on Derby street set to disappear" You can read the story of Gail Roberts here.

These are my pictures.

This is a shocking state of affairs, though I suspect compulsory purchases are happening all over the UK when the Government wants the land. How much did they pay the owners of these 16 houses? Who owns them now? Will the widening of the A38 at Derby ever be completed? This has been going on a long time. The Government must be sitting on mega acres of land. 

Have a good weekend. See you tomorrow. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona