T ODAY it is called Weston Heights but a decade or so ago when it was known as the Coalville estate at Weston Coyney it was a by-word for decay, crime and problems with absentee landlords. The term 'sink estate' could have been made for it.

That was then but today virtually all the old properties have been swept away and in their place are smart new homes and a renewed sense of community spirit. So far around 150 of the eventual 280 two, three and four-bedroom homes planned have been built and with a variety of designs, sizes and layouts there is little of the uniformity of the previous estate where one house looked exactly the same as the next.

One of the keys to the success has been the close collaboration between developers, Lovell Homes, and Riverside, one of the UK's largest social housing landlord groups in the UK which pooled their expertise to form a partnership called Compendium Living.

Neil Walker, project manager, pictured left, says: "Obviously we need to make a profit but the fundamental aim of what we are doing here is to regenerate the community. This place was built as a mining estate in 1954, but when that industry stopped the National Coal Board began selling off the properties and it began to fall into decay. When we first began work here there was 30 per cent vacancy and a lot of the properties had been sold off to landlords from all over the place. There was no sense of ownership or pride, and crime and vandalism were big problems.

"This has been a ground-up project, with residents telling us what they wanted rather than us imposing our views. We are house builders and Riverside bring their expertise in social housing and I think the combination of all these factors is working very well.''

T he residents tend to agree. One, Ernie Clarke, a retired miner, says: "This used to be a great estate. There was no such thing as a locked back door but the trouble started in the 1980s when the NCB sold off houses to private landlords, many of whom we didn't see from one week to the next – my mother's landlord lived in Uganda and there was little attention paid to repairs and upkeep.

"Eventually we got fed up with the crime, the vandalism and all the problems, and people began talking about the estate but they were talking about us, not to us.

"But since Compendium came here in 2005 the only way we have gone is up. "When they first started we asked them not to differentiate in the houses built for tenants and those for owners. Before you could always tell who was which but we said: 'We're all residents of the estate and should be treated the same' and Compendium has been brilliant about that. Because of the way the estate has been transformed, and the way people have been treated, residents have got their confidence and their pride back about living here.''

Another resident, Chris Mason, aged 38, who is disabled, has nothing but praise for the way the developers have worked with people living there.

Chris says: "I have waited for two and a half years to find somewhere suitable where I can live independently, because a lot of homes built today are not designed for disabled people, but Compendium worked with me here. It cares about the people who live in its houses.''

Neil says: "This house was adapted when we knew Chris was coming here with things like a low level kitchen, the shower controls were lowered, the parking space widened – there are lots of things we can and did do for Chris so he can live independently. We call it our Lifetime Home standard.''

Ernie adds: "The day that Compendium began work here was the best thing that has happened to this estate in a long time. The partnership between Lovell and Riverside, and us the residents, has worked brilliantly and is a success for the estate and Weston Coyney.''