The government’s plans to tackle unwanted housing in the north of England are being investigated by a parliamentary inquiry. There is growing concern about the amount of demolition involved in the £1.2 billion Housing Market Renewal initiative. The scheme could see up to 400,000 homes replaced over the next 15 years. Critics, such as local residents and heritage groups, feel the policy will destroy historic terraced housing and may repeat the mistakes made by slum clearance programmes of the 1960s and 70s. However former housing policy adviser, Michael Gahagan, told the committee of MPs: “There does have to be demolition. We should not be asking people to live in these houses.” He went on to say that refurbishing substandard property was not always the best use of taxpayers money. Though he did stress that the programme would refurbish more homes than it demolished.