From Leicester Mercury 29^th June 2001

It's a pretty good place to live!

By Jennifer Sym

Friendly: A Garden City where Tenants’ Committee runs its own affairs.

Deep in the city, nestling between sprawling estates, lies possibly the last private housing co-operative in the country.

Humberstone Garden City is believed to be the only community in England still run on the non-profit-making ideals of the Victorian philanthropists.

The 143 properties are all co-owned and the estate has little council involvement, being run by a committee elected by residents. Rents are more like maintenance charges which go towards the upkeep of all the houses and the estate.

But - before you pick up the phone to apply - there is a waiting list to move in, and membership is now exclusively drawn from the children and grandchildren of current residents, or shareholders as they are otherwise known.

Rather like Eton, parents put their children’s names on the waiting list when they are born, waiting for the time when they turn 16 and are eligible to become a shareholder.

Lesley Osborne, a committee member who lives in Keyham Lane, said: “My mother was two when she moved up here and she’s now 93.”

Committee chairman Janet Goodwin said: “Here you can’t walk out in the street without bumping into somebody and having a chat. On the whole, it is a pretty good place to live.”

The estate was first dreamed up in 1902 and the first house was bought on Keyham Lane six years later. Anchor Tenants Ltd took their name from the Anchor Boot and Shoe Company in Asfordby Street, where the idea first took root.

Unlike other estates, such as Bourneville or the estate of Robert Owen, Humberstone was run by the workers, not the company.

Shares were bought for £10 a time, up to a limit of £200 and these sums are still in the rules. The estate is still a close-knit community, bordered by Chestnut Avenue, Keyham Lane, Lilac Avenue, and Laburnum Road with its own hall, social activities and a maintenance programme to make other estates wince. Two maintenance men are employed and paid from the rents, which go to wards the upkeep of the estate.

Next year, the estate celebrates its centenary and is looking for memorabilia, photographs and memories. Anyone who can lend the committee items should call 0116 276 0767.