中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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Small change ... houses in Liverpool are being sold to residents for ￡1 |
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THESE are Britain’s cheapest homes – set to go on sale for just a POUND. The Victorian terraced houses were originally bought for as much as ￡70,000 EACH – but are now being offered at the rock-bottom price to DIY enthusiasts. Each buyer will have to prove they can bring the house up to scratch using “construction skills” before they can own the property. Homes in the Granby Triangle area in Kensington, Liverpool were part of former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s plan to destroy thousands of homes across the country. Under his regeneration Pathfinder scheme, around ￡2.2bn was blown on buying and demolishing homes – but not enough new homes were built for the displaced occupants. Residents in the Granby area fought to save the properties and now the city council has agreed to sell them to locals who will be able to revamp them. As part of the initial pilot scheme, 20 houses will be offered for sale to residents for ￡1. Liverpool’s Deputy Mayor and Finance Chief Cllr Paul Brant said: “This allows people who may be excluded from mortgages but have construction skills to play a part in the regeneration of their communities. “We’ve seen that the private sector model has not succeeded so far and, through this way of doing things, if there is any profit it will stay with local people.” Jonathan Brown, spokesman for the Merseyside Civic Society, said: “We fought against Prescott’s scheme and it’s great to have won all these years later. “Local people have been let down over and over again for decades. “I hope this now rolls out to other areas of the city in desperate need of regeneration.” (Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) |
英國最便宜房屋即將出售，僅賣1英鎊。 維多利亞式排屋每間最初售價高達7萬英鎊，而現如今卻要以跳樓價賣給DIY熱衷者。 每位買主必須在購買前證明自己“有能力”翻修這些老房子，使之達到合格標準。 這些房屋位于利物浦的肯辛頓格蘭比三角區，屬于前副首相約翰?普雷斯科特提出的鏟平全國數千座老房屋計劃中的一部分。 根據他提出的“探路者”重建方案，政府將斥資約22億英鎊用于房屋購買與拆遷——但新購置的房屋數量不足以滿足未予安置的住房者的需要。 格蘭比地區的居民一直在爭取保留自己的房產，如今市政議會已經同意將這些房屋賣給有翻修能力的當地購房者。 作為最初試點方案的一部分，有20座房屋將以1英鎊的價格賣給當地居民。 利物浦市副市長、主管財政的議員保羅-布蘭特表示，“這一舉措可以使不具抵押貸款資格但擁有翻修能力的人在其社區房屋重建中發揮一定的作用”。 “我們已經看到，私營模式至今還未收獲成效。不過采用現在這種方式，如果有利可圖的話，受益者也將是當地居民”。 默西賽德郡公民協會發言人喬納森?布朗表示，“我們一直反對普雷斯科特的計劃，經歷了這么多年的抗爭能取得勝利也算是大快人心。” “過去幾十年，當地居民一次又一次地陷于失望之中?！?/p> “我希望當前這種做法也能推廣到本市其他一些亟需重建的地區?！?/p> 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯：陳丹妮） |
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Vocabulary: rock-bottom price: 最低價 up to scratch: 達到標準，合格 |
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