Why 17 luxury apartments no one has ever lived in are being demolished

If you lived here you’d be home by now’ reads the mould-covered sign outside these 17 apartments in Aylestone.But no one ever has lived in them, and no one ever will.Soon, the once modern looking development, which has stood empty since being built in around 2007, will be ripped down and replaced with a care home.The two buildings – one with 12 two bedroom flats, another with five two-bedroom apartments – were billed as modern luxury living when the work was going on, but the pristine new windows are now smashed or boarded up, the doorways to what could have been happy family homes are now blocked with metal sheeting, and graffiti adorns the building.Half broken metal barriers surround the site which has piles of rubbish and old building materials stacked up.Pipes and plumbing appear to have been ripped out, and the shell of the building looks sorry and sad.An almost moat like ditch full of stagnant green water is at the entrance of the site. Crisp packets and other rubbish float in it.Neighbours have grown used to not knowing what is happening with the site. They say people turn up and take photographs every now and then, there have been people breaking in, and building materials stolen from the site.For what they think is around 12 years, the flats that could have been homes to new neighbours, have stood empty.Permission for a 60 bed care home was granted in 2011, after Springbourne Homes, the then owner, submitted an application.HM Land Registry documents show that the site was purchased by Avery Healthcare on August 5, 2011, for £1,450,000.Further planning applications have since been submitted but the overall plan remains the same – a purpose built care home.After speaking with the site’s now owners, it was revealed that builders will be on the site again soon.They will rip down the existing buildings and replace what is there with a proposed 60 bed care home for dementia patients.The development, which will be funded and built by Avery Healthcare, is expected to be complete at the start of 2021, almost 20 years since the site was originally sold on.