A group of women who felt angry and forgotten when the estate where they lived was labelled “the most deprived in Wales” are fighting to turnaround the estate and remove their number one ranking.
Tonight’s BBC Wales Week In Week Out programme follows their story and their fight to ditch the unenviable title. It began when the mums from Caerphilly – who formed the campaign group Lansbury Matters – collected hundreds of signatures demanding that their local council demolish a derelict community centre and invest in the area to give their children a better future.
Wales’s Most Deprived Estate: The Fight Back tells the compelling individual stories of women – mostly mothers – who want more for themselves and their families who live on the estate, where 50% of residents have no qualifications and whose prospects, as a result, are poor.
Welsh Government ranked their estate, on the outskirts of Caerphilly town centre, the most deprived in Wales in 2014. Led by ward Councillor Elaine Forehead the women vowed to turnaround the estate’s fortunes.
Cllr Forehead said: “The community felt insulted by it because to the people who live on Lansbury Park, this is their home. And I think they’ve also seen the deprivation levels as poverty and very 1920s-style poverty, where children walk around with no shoes on their feet and so on and so forth. And it’s not like that. It’s not about how your children are dressed; it’s more about the opportunities for your children and the opportunities for yourself.”
Jan Crimmins has lived on Lansbury Park for almost 50 years: “We have been let down – whether it be Communities First, the Council or the Government – we have been let down. Big time.”
Councillor Forehead agrees that Communities First – a Welsh Government initiative to help people in deprived areas – could have reached out to people on the estate more: “I think Communities First should be run by the people, that’s exactly what the whole theory was about and at the moment in Lansbury Park particularly I don’t feel there are enough residents to make the changes needed and that’s where we can make the difference.”
The programme also follows the work and challenges of head teacher Paul Samuel as he attempts to turnaround standards at St James Primary School – the mainstream school on estate. Falling educational standards were the major reason the area had slipped to the number one worst ranking on the Welsh Medium Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Mr Samuel tells the programme: “We get children coming in the nursery who can’t talk, some that can hardly walk – many are not self-toileting so still coming into school with nappies – they certainly cannot read or write or hold a pen or pencil so really are starting well below where you would expect to a child to be in nursery or reception.”
Mother-of-six Annemarie Bridgeman is also featured with her four youngest children, Niall, Lee, Miley and Cian. Annemarie is passionate about education and doesn’t allow her children to miss a day of school. Her eight-year-old son Lee is bucking the trend in his education and excelling in maths.
Annemarie says: “I don’t want my kids on the dole. I want them to do really great in school. Life on the dole is not fun, you know? And I try to explain that to them. So work hard and you get a good job and you can go places. Like, he wants to be a professional football player; I reckon Lee could be the next Prime Minister because he is that clever in the head. But it is finding the right education around here for him.”
Also featured is single mum Clare Masters and 17-year-old daughter Chantelle who left school with few qualifications after falling pregnant at 15.
Clare, 47, undertakes community work for the estate and says she would love to find a job but living on Lansbury Park makes it difficult. She would like to set up her own flower arranging business. She lives on the estate with her two youngest children – 10-year-old twin girls.
“Dole-wallers – that’s what they normally label us. That’s not the case – find me a job and I’ll take it tomorrow. I can’t live on benefits rest of my life, you know. It does my head in because I can’t do things I want to do.”
Lansbury Matters’ Michelle Jones heads the campaign for a new community centre. She decided she had to join the fight after moving to the estate.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Corporate Director of Communities Christina Harrhy says: “We’re not proud of being number one on the deprivation list – we want to change that and will change that.”
She added: “It does bother me, the council is not happy with that and there is a genuine will and commitment to take that forward and take Lansbury forward in a collaborative way.”
And in response to criticism of Communities First, she told the programme: “That’s disappointing because Communities First has been prioritised and targeted to Lansbury Park and there have been a number of interventions and a number of work streams that we have been working with the community on. But if the community is saying that it is not appropriate, or what they need, then I am happy to have a conversation with them.”
Wales’s Most Deprived Estate: The Fight Back, BBC One Wales, Monday, March 14, 9pm and on BBC iPlayer
Make sure to pick up your copy of Caerphilly Observer out on March 17 where we profile the work of Lansbury Matters
The problem with Communities First is that it fails to accept that the residents in a Community come first, it also employs people who have little or no experience in life.
There has been, over the years, criticisms that the jobs created by Community First funding are `jobs for the boys`, they do not listen, and always promote the creation of usually infrastructure project, which, have little or no impact on the lives of residents, the poor, and the disenfranchised. POLITICIANS are to blame for allowing this to happen year on year, sometimes even lauding the `success` of failed programmes and projects, millions of pounds have been wasted in Landsbury Park in particular in funding year on year, with the community consistently sitting right at the top of the poorest communities in the Country, year on year.
If these residents and public representatives are going to succeed in turning thing around on this Estate, using Community first funding grants,then they will have to effect change at the top of the current Community First administration employed by the fund holders, Caerphilly Council (not the Welsh Assembly). But, in trying to do what this article says they want to do they will have considerable resistance from Scheme Administrators who are still, even after years of failure upon failure, still do not understand they cannot point to any measure of success of the processes and projects they have followed.
Even in this article the head of this public funded scheme still expresses surprise that residents feel they way they do, when did she last ask them?
If residents are to succeed in making a proper and meaningful contribution to Community First projects, there will have to be change at the top and an acceptance of the previously catastrophically failed and financially ineffectual team of the Community First Office. There wont be of course, so any measure of change will be diminished by frustration of the residents and the efforts of local Councillors.
The Council have to look at the way they have failed, look at the lack of success of the way they have spent money from this scheme, and accept the fact that major or minor infrastructure projects on roads pavements and fences around the estate does not put money in families pockets or food on the table of kids that go to school without breakfast and never come home to a hot nutritious meal.
The Council needs to take a critical look and investigation into the current way the Community First office spends our money, and secondly, establish a local Community First management group of residents, of people who have experience in development of cohesion projects, and lifestyle development. and who have no interest at all in pavements roads and gardens, let the Council take care of that, they know best on all these things after all.
I could not agree ore with you. Also would give local jobs to local people. Identifying residents especially the youth who can contribute to help others. We have identified 11 people in our community under 18 yrs old who would like to train to teach and inspire young people but we are waiting constantly for courses to become available. Community led regeneration is by far the most effective way forward, saving millions of pounds. Unfortunately the LA are afraid they will not be as in control as they like….countless failures back this up!
Michelle; you say countless failures, I say consistant failures, and the same consistant failures year on year. Has to be a change in approach and attitude by CCBC to beat the scurge of creeping poverty in our backyard. They have the tools to do so, they have the money to do so, but they fail to use them effectively.
I would agree with that consistent failures-lansbury Matters are proven to be effective. ..There are able residents who would have far more success and it would be sustainable. Why pay strangers who have little trust from the community. .issues identified are now passed through me a volunteer! For housing, health, training etc….It sucks and the more I think about how much we do for nothing is maddening. Many people on the estate don’t even realise Community First is another name for the council! It must all be led through the community to be sustainable.
They actually make us feel we are not up to the job! We are!
It is obvious to anyone that the families of Lansbuty Park are no different to families anywhere else, it is clear that amongst those families, particularly amongst the mothers and grandmothers, who have proven to have done a remarkable job in raising children already, that there exists a `sleeping` realisation that things have to change if only for the sake of children currently growing up on the Estate.
It is clear that a strong woman is a force to be feared unless you are on the same side, and the women of the estate are the people to take these matters forward.
I notice from last nights programme, that whilst some would like to put a positive slant on progress, it appears that very little movement has been gained in convincing Community First that `The Community of Lansbury Park Comes First`. Words are cheap, and Community First will continue to spout rhetoric which is designed to `slow down` progress by the the Lansbury Matters women, having done that, your group will lose some of its original momentum and enthusiasm, this is exactly what Community First Staff want to happen, it allows them to stay in control and deminish the profile of your group.
If you seriously want to effect change you cannot do so without breaking eggs. you cannot do so with an approach by local politicians of just a slow and steady mindset change. The problem with groups led by politicians is that in meetings with other politicians making the decisions, the politician, whoever it is, unless it is a member of a rival party to that in power, will not play ouside the box, they will not rattle cages of thier political colleagues, and they will NOT rock the boat to the extent needed sometimes to effect change.
Unless you form a proper Resident, Community First `We know Better` group, (and fight in numbers for change) ( local politicians will normally only do what would be expected of them as a local councillor, and dont forget they get paid to do so) ( nothing I say should deminish the good work of Councillor Elain Forehead, a good local councillor and first rate enviable public representative) and involve some of those young people which for whatever reason failed in the education system, who are not YET fully equiped to compete for jobs, your current mission will not be effective, you will not alter the mindset of highly paid Community First Staff, and therefore you will not effect change.
Projects are needed to demonstrate to prospective employers, (and the local Council is the biggest one,) that basic skills do exist amongst the unemployed on the estate, which could be used in meaningful further training and paid employment, many useful skills exist amongst the many mothers and grandmothers on the estate which employers could take advantage of. Projects of `job creation` are needed actually funded from the Community First Budgets, The Lansbury Matters group need to look outside the Estate to employers, colleges and universities, large Welsh Based Companies who already have the experience of job creation and employment stability.and to see what help and assistance they can give to enable this community to fight the effects of years of neglect suffered on the Estate, they are often able to provide a finance stream to help create stability, and, training places leading to employment and jobs. This is a role which Community first should be promoting on behalf of residents.
Politicains do NOT always know what is best for us, Good Luck.
We work on health, housing conditions, training, all determinants of Health but unfortunately the programme focused on education. We do work with the school with a girls group to improve confidence for transition to St Martins Comp