There is a difference between houses being feet from the road and shops being feet from the road. People wouldn't want to live there especially families, plus the fact that the houses have pokey back yards, not exactly family friendly. They would end up being diced up into flats and falling into a bad state of repair again.
Some of the houses only need a lick of paint, but some of them need extensive repair costing thousands and some of them are unfit for habitation and need to be demolished. As I have said many times before, the vast majority of people are behind the LLDC plan and this is the plan that will be better in the long term.
As for the judge saying they shouldn't be demolished, if he actually visited the area and saw just how grotty, neglected, dark and unsafe it is, I'm sure he would change his mind.
I do genuinely hate to see any of our 'heritage' lost, but I feel in this case that demolition will be better for the people wheras renovation will only be better for our history. People are more important.