‘Economic violence’: Birmingham residents decry plan to raze 1,900 homes

The Ladywood area of Birmingham. The housing scheme has been described by the council as the city’s most significant redevelopment project in a generation. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

When Laura Kudrna bought her home on the Ladywood estate in Birmingham, it brought to an end a 12-year period of renting in which she’d moved 20 times. “I was so excited to be able to stay in a home that I thought I would have for life,” she said.

But her new sense of security was shattered when she found out that her property was one of 1,900 dwellings listed for potential demolition in what is thought to be one of Europe’s biggest single-site estate regenerations.