I visited Horden in County Durham after £6m plans were revealed to redevelop homes

Earlier this week, I came across the news that the village of Horden could undergo a massive redevelopment in an attempt to improve the area which has been blighted by crime and anti-social behaviour.

Durham County Council have announced a masterplan, starting with properties on Third Street. The rundown homes, which had originally been built for miners and their families, could be purchased by the local authority before being either knocked down and replaced with new housing, or refurbished.

A public consultation with residents found most backed a proposal to demolish the existing properties in the area known as the "numbered streets" and replace them with new homes. Up to £6m has been committed from the council’s budget to develop the first phase of the masterplan.

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Easington MP Grahame Morris previously described the numbered streets as being occupied by people "with complex needs, a high proportion of ex-offenders and people with addiction issues".

He added that the street suffer from a "high proportion of void and derelict properties, anti-social behaviour and criminality, environmental issues with fly-tipping, drugs, litter and open drug dealing on the street".

After hearing about this, I decided to visit Horden, to see what it was like for myself, and also to get the thoughts of residents on these plans. I was curious to see if Horden followed the trend that a lot of old mining villages suffer, whereby they are not able to find another identity after the pits closed.

When I arrived in Horden, my feelings were mixed, as I was driving past both clean and tidy, well-looked after houses, and ones that looked rundown and unloved within metres of each other. It seemed to me at this point that the anti-social behaviour that this redevelopment will help tackle is a problem caused by the few that affects many.

Third Street itself was my first stop, given it is going to be the first group of homes that are affected by the plans. The street was the same as the others I had seen, a mix of well kept and unloved houses, and although it wasn't the worst looking street, I couldn't help but think that its location at the bottom of the village was the main reason it has been chosen as the starting point.

I then decided to get the thoughts of a resident, and found someone who was willing to talk about the anti-social behaviour issues and whether they think this redevelopment will help with it. She said: "Young people have nothing to do these days like they used to, as I can remember when there were youth clubs on in the village but that doesn't happen anymore and it has been a while since things like that stopped.

"I think giving specifically young teenagers something to do at their age would massively help the problem, as they wouldn't get older and continue their anti-social behaviour. Of course, I hope the problem does go away as a result of this redevelopment, I'm just not sure it this is the right way to go about it."

After that interesting insight, I moved on up the hill towards the high street. These higher houses that I was passing will probably be part of the next stages of redevelopment, based on the fact that some of them are no more looked after and taken care of than the ones on Third Street.

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Various properties were boarded up all the way up to the top of the village, with some even having windows and doors painted onto them to give a different impression. By this point, I was realising that the expectation that I had for Horden on my way here was very close to the reality.

I then made it up to the high street, and I wanted to get the opinion of someone who works here on the proposals of redevelopment. That came in the form of Sarah Chapman, a receptionist at Gibson Opticians, who also used to live on Third Street when she was growing up.

Sarah, who now lives in Seaham, said: "When I lived down on Third Street in the 80s with my mum this was a lovely place to be. I now live in Seaham, which is where a lot of the money in this area seems to have gone to.

"I think it is sad to see the change in the area, from what the place once was to what it has unfortunately now become. Hopefully these new redevelopment plans can help the village improve for the people that live and work here."

It is clear to see that Horden is a place that needs to improve, but it remains to be seen whether the redevelopment of properties in this fashion is the correct way to go about it. As I was leaving Horden, this is something that I pondered, although something I was certain about is that if the issue is dealt with well, it can be a place that can turn its fortunes around.