Wednesday 6 May 2009

Estate of the nation

Wednesday's Mirror reported from Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent and Hulme in Manchester, previewing the Fabian report 'In the Mix' by James Gregory, on housing policy, which we publish on Friday.


... amid the waste and decay, there is some hope in this corner of inner-city Manchester.

Once one of the most notorious estates in Europe, over the past decade £100million of regeneration cash has flowed into the area. And while aspects of the old Hulme remain - drugs are rife and violence is never far from the surface - residents believe the estate, once dubbed Beirut, is on the way up.

Retired railwayman David Bannister shakes his head and says: "I've lived here for nearly 30 years and seen it all. But it's a lot better now - it couldn't be any worse.

"It was called bandit country - kids with guns, muggings and lots of rats. "The whole area looked like it had been bombed. But it's got better."

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