When this picture was taken in October 2009, Middleport resident Linda Coates was awaiting news that her home in Bridgewater Street was going to be bulldozed. The 42-year-old welcomed the decision. The mother-of-two said: "I have already agreed a price for my house and I’m waiting to find out when and where I will move. RENEW said there was a lot of pollution in the area and that the houses were substandard.
"I will be glad to go. It’s not a nice place to live. I have lived here for 19 years, but the last 10 have been terrible because of all the drug problems and crime.
"A lot of home-owners sold up and left when property prices were high, and now there are a lot of rented houses here. There’s no community left here any more.
"I want to stay in the area, but I would like to live somewhere where I can take my three-year-old daughter to play in a park.”
Middleport has been an Area of Major Intervention (AMI) since the inception of the Renew programme. Approximately £18 million is being spent on the community between 2008 and 2011.