The Norris Green Estate in Liverpool has been in the wars. If you’ve read some of the press coverage over recent years, that might seem an almost literal statement but the reality is that the Estate simply represents all the hopes and fears that have been invested in social housing over the decades. It deserves to be better understood.
Thanks! Yes it did. My parents were lucky to get council housing in the sixties, and our estate was majority trawlermen and associated trades. There were "problem families" but with so much work available, and strong social ties, people generally did get on well. The downside was the prejudice against people who didn't fit in (my dad worked out of town as an aircraft engineer, and had to have a car, so we were seen as 'posh") and a passive attitude to authority. We didn't have the community groups to stand up to the council when they stopped maintaining the estate. High unemployment from the mid-seventies on, and then the "right-to buy", broke up the community and also introduced lots of social issues (drugs, vandalism, stealing from neighbours) that were a big shock. One thing I do remember as a child was how matriarchal the estate was. The men were away at sea for weeks at a time and the mothers and grandmothers ruled all!
Thanks - so interesting to see a lot of things that were happening to estates across the country but also the individual character of particular estates. That's why it's always worth trying to tell the story and honouring the history.
A very interesting article, and as someone who grew up in council housing in the North West I am looking forward to the second part to see if changes from the 70s onward mirror my family experiences.
Thanks! Yes it did. My parents were lucky to get council housing in the sixties, and our estate was majority trawlermen and associated trades. There were "problem families" but with so much work available, and strong social ties, people generally did get on well. The downside was the prejudice against people who didn't fit in (my dad worked out of town as an aircraft engineer, and had to have a car, so we were seen as 'posh") and a passive attitude to authority. We didn't have the community groups to stand up to the council when they stopped maintaining the estate. High unemployment from the mid-seventies on, and then the "right-to buy", broke up the community and also introduced lots of social issues (drugs, vandalism, stealing from neighbours) that were a big shock. One thing I do remember as a child was how matriarchal the estate was. The men were away at sea for weeks at a time and the mothers and grandmothers ruled all!
Thanks - so interesting to see a lot of things that were happening to estates across the country but also the individual character of particular estates. That's why it's always worth trying to tell the story and honouring the history.
A very interesting article, and as someone who grew up in council housing in the North West I am looking forward to the second part to see if changes from the 70s onward mirror my family experiences.
Thanks. Here's the link to part II if you've not seen it. I wonder if it will resonate with your own experience.
https://municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-norris-green-estate-liverpool-8fd?r=kwvek