Norris Green Croxteth Districts

[customhouse]

Apart from Vigilante Justice, which nobody seems to want. The only other thing that can be done is to Petition Parliament to bring back Corporal Punshment including Hanging. If enough people get together from around the country and sign the Petition, the Pollies will have to do something about it. And to Hell with the EU in Brussels. These thugs only recognise violence, and some State administered violence with the ultimate deterrent of hanging would soon calm them down.... Ask the older people in the Isle of Man did the Birch work. They'll tell you it did.

[wallasey]

Great image there Phil, do you know how long the blocks have been derelict?

I went to Norris Green back in June and this is what my camera snapped...


Broadway, Norris Green The New Broadway Pub, a building which is just oozing with thirties character.


Broadway, Norris Green Broadway shopping precinct was predominantly built in the 1930's along with the surrounding estates. Even in today's supermarket orientated society, the small businesses are doing rather well. There is a great cooked chicken shop situated behind the blue van which does a roaring trade and looks great from the bus stop outside. There are a few chain shops in Broadway such as Home Bargains but on the whole, is a pleasant suburban high street in which to come on a lazy afternoon.


Broadway, Norris Green Looking up Broadway to the pub, what looks like a cinema can be seen off to the right whilst the road itself curves effortlessly out of view with the arcade of shops following suit.

Admittedly, I don't normally come to this corner of the city but might come a little more regularly than before as there are quite a few nice quirks to be found in this area from looking through the window of the number 14!

[steveb]

The what looks like a cinema in Broadway was origionaly the regal cinema
later converted to a bingo hall, and recently closed down due to the
smoking ban, or so the owners said

[lindylou]

The library is a typical 1930s style building too. The same brickwork style as those shops.

[Ernie]

The New Broadway was a local of mine years ago, one
of the best pints of bitter around, sadly not many go in there now.

[Howie]

The Socialist 30 August 2007

Massive deprivation in Norris Green, Liverpool

By Tony Aitman

The press and TV have been full of glaring headlines about crime in Liverpool following the death of 11 year old Rhys Jones. With glee, they have jumped on the continuing warfare between rival gangs in Norris Green and Croxteth. But behind those headlines lies a story of council neglect, long term unemployment, poor housing, and the continual criminalisation of young people with no future, and not much of a present.

Norris Green is an area of massive deprivation. There are 32,428 "Super Output Areas" in the UK, the basis of comparing levels of poverty, where 1 represents the most deprived, and 354 the least; nowhere does Norris Green score more than 2.

The area of Norris Green where I work, a row of shops in Scargreen Avenue called the Strand, is typical of this. This was the headquarters of Liam "Smigger" Smith, whose murder a year ago was the catalyst for the current round of violence. Every day, he and his mates would gather there, outside the local off-licence, smoking dope; the off-licence has a sign in the window: "No smoking spliffs in the shop".

But where else is there for them to go? There are no jobs for them to go to – 41% of Norris Green's population is without work, compared to a Liverpool average of 34%. It would be hard for most of them to get work if there was any, as 45% of Norris Green youth have no educational qualification. The jobs that are available pay appalling wages – the average income in Norris Green is £17,000 compared to a Liverpool average of £22,500, and a national median wage of £23, 244.

Housing is an on-going scandal. An indication of the quality of housing is the council tax band – 0.3% of Norris Green houses are in the C band or above, compared to 21% in Liverpool as a whole. Like many areas with historically low house prices, it is the norm in Liverpool for people to be owner-occupiers – over 70% of people own their own homes. Yet, in Norris Green, this figure is 42%, with 58% living in "social landlord" property or council estates. For years, these estates have suffered appalling council neglect.

Then there was the scandal of the Boot Estate, just down the road from Scargreen Avenue. Occupiers were told their homes were to be rebuilt and the area regenerated. They were moved out into temporary accommodation and their homes were demolished. It was then decided not to rebuild at all – leaving hundreds without the homes they had lived in for years and in worse housing than ever.

At the same time, the council is spending millions on the Capital of Culture – a jamboree that will completely bypass the ordinary working class of Liverpool – and criminalising youth such as those in Norris Green in the process. The centre of Liverpool around the Bluecoat building used to be a centre of small cafes, alternative clothing and jewellery stores, second hand bookshops and record shops, frequented by young people from throughout the city.

Now, bought up by the Duke of Westminster, all this has been closed down to be rebuilt as up-market shops and restaurants, with the youth kept out by a private army of security guards. With nowhere to go, they are herded by the police from one part of the city centre to another. Small wonder they feel alienated from the city authorities and "law and order".

To add insult to injury, the council is now begging for further loans to get itself out of the mess it is in, loans which will, according to their own figures, add £52 to the bill to be paid by each Liverpool resident. Oddly, the Liverpool Echo, which screamed for government intervention when the 1980s Militant-led Labour council sought loans to build houses and nurseries rather than a bean-feast for the rich, has remained strangely silent.

And what of crime in Norris Green? Unlike the image given in the press, it is lower than the rest of Liverpool – 159 crimes per 1000 population, compared to 175 in Liverpool as a whole. That many young people have been driven into a life of drugs and gangs is appalling – the deaths of Liam Smith and Rhys Jones at such young ages have been a tragic waste of young lives. Yes, the gangs do intimidate and frighten many people in the area, and Rhys' death is a terrible by-product of this – but the situation has been made worse by the very actions of the police and the media themselves.

When Smigger Smith died last year, flowers and graffiti lined the Strand. Chalked on every available surface were salutations to the Noggsy Soldier and every pole in the street bore a garland. An arrangement was made with the police and the local community that these could stay until after the funeral. The day before the funeral, the police came round warning everyone to keep closed the following day – and this appeared in the local press as that the gangs had threatened people. However, we had received not a single threat from any of the youths involved, and, true to their word, they removed all the tributes as agreed.

How can the problems of drugs and crime be solved in an area like Norris Green? The government has one answer – the Criminal Justice Centre, a fast-track court dealing with offenders in the area, pioneered in the area of Liverpool covering Norris Green. I was part of a group that met with David Fletcher, appointed as the Judge of the CJC just before it opened. He outlined the social poverty and deprivation that lay behind crime in Norris Green. "And so" he said, "the government has decided to grant unlimited funds to" … wait for it … "the Criminal Justice Centre". Not to housing, jobs, education, social centres or sports centres, but to one of the plushest courts in the country with oak panelling and marble flooring, and a judge who proudly boasted that he could tell who was guilty before he even heard their defence.

We cannot in any way defend the gangs, the drugs and the warfare that has resulted in so many lives being wasted. We can, however, unlike the media who weep crocodile tears while their circulation goes up, point to a solution. A massive rebuilding programme, decent education in properly equipped schools, proper jobs on a living wage, as part of a socialist programme to rebuild the economy. In the short term, that means a new, mass, campaigning workers' party that could give some hope and direction to the lost youth of Norris Green.

Source: The Socialist

[Howie]

Horror and heartbreak in Croxteth – What is the cause? What is the answer?

Tony Mulhearn

The appalling murder of young Rhys Jones has generated outrage, disbelief, anger and a demand for a solution to the brutalisation of a section of youth.

Symbolising the massive attention this tragedy has attracted, Everton footballers and supporters at the last match had a minute's applause in sympathy with Rhys, a passionate Evertonian, and his family who attended the match. Many in the crowd were moved to tears. Everton footballers laid tributes at the murder scene.

Rhys's murder has provoked millions of words and gallons of ink: some demanding tougher laws, others calling for tougher policing, many writing off today's youth as a lost generation. The most reactionary solutions, ranging from forcing youth into a special army detachment to incarcerating those wearing hoods into special camps, have been voiced over the local airwaves.

As always, the reality demands a study of a situation that has developed over generations. While Rhys was gunned down in an opulent area of Croxteth, the largest private development in Western Europe containing a mix of semi-detached and expensive detached properties, it is surrounded by some of the most deprived districts in the city.

The adjacent Norris Green area has a history of youth belonging to gangs who have access to guns and drugs. A hard core tend to draw in other youth on the fringes into a life of criminality. They could be categorised as the children of Thatcher's children. 'There is no such thing as society' is Thatcher's legacy.

This area of Liverpool was once a much-desired area where working-class people from the slums of downtown Liverpool that couldn't cope with the exploding population were housed in the interwar and post-war period. Council housing with neat gardens and well-kept frontages was the rule. Work was found in the factories that lined the roads leading from the estate. Plesseys, CAV Lucas, English Electric, Bus manufacturers, and the Kirkby industrial estate, three miles up the East Lancs Road, provided work for tens of thousands.

In addition many continued to work as dockers, shipbuilders, merchant seaman and the plethora of trades connected to the thriving maritime industry, as well as finding trades in the construction, printing and the supply industries.

The policies of deindustrialisation started under a Labour government in the seventies and accelerated by Thatcher after her election in 1979 as a deliberate policy laid waste the bulk of industry. Between 1973 and 1983, when the Liverpool 47 took control of the council, 65% of manufacturing in Liverpool had been destroyed and, in spite of the titanic efforts of the 47 to create jobs and defend services for which they were surcharged and removed from office, the process has continued ever since.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report published in the year 2000 revealed that in parts of the Croxteth area between 50% and 70% were in poverty, and unemployment has been consistently around 36% since the 1970s. Peter Stoney, Liverpool University's leading economist, argued that the figures were still relevant today. In a nutshell, the capitalist policies of neo-liberalism have destroyed a whole culture.

It would be utopian to view the past through rose-coloured spectacles; sections of youth have always formed gangs, engaging in fighting to demonstrate their macho image. This activity grew or declined in intensity over the decades depending on the social and economic situation. Today, when the gap between rich and poor grows apace; when meaningful jobs have largely disappeared, when guns and drugs are attainable, a lethal cocktail exists, which directly impacts on the lives of ordinary, decent working-class people.

To paraphrase US senator Jesse Jackson, on his tour of deprived areas of Britain: 'When jobs and a future go out the door, guns and drugs come in through the window.'

A striking feature surrounding the latest tragedy is the absence of an intervention by the labour movement. Rhys's tragic death raises in the starkest fashion the need for a fundamental change in society. It raises the need for a socialist government which would directly address the needs of deprived areas with the same alacrity as New Labour encourages the super rich to increase their already obscene wealth or allocates billions to update weapons systems.

In 1982 when Croxteth Comprehensive School was earmarked for closure, the Liverpool Labour Party joined hands with local community activists in a campaign, which included demonstrations and marches, which assisted Labour to power in the city. In 1983 the newly elected socialist council, and the magnificent efforts by the local community, ensured that the school remained open as a vital facility.

New Labour today in Liverpool has neither the policies, political will, organisation nor members to organise the necessary level of activity to meet the needs of working-class communities.

The tragedy of Rhys's death underlines again what is becoming clearer; that a new workers' party is vital in defending and advancing the requirements of working-class communities.

Tony Mulhearn was President of the district Liverpool Labour Party during the 1983-87 battle by the Liverpool 47 Councillors against the Thatcher government

Read 'Liverpool - A City That Dared to Fight' online

Source: The Socialist

[kat2]

I think alot of this is to do not with deprevation, but with the lack of social education. its a spiral past down, how to scam the dole, and so history repeats itself, free housing free dole each interlocked. I have seen new build estates only to have exactly the same problems, low education, low employment, so, yes, housing and health are inter twined, but education is the only way forward and since both parent and child cannot be bothered so the seed is sown, for a life of crime and unemployment.#
kat
sad fact but sadly true.

[lottie]

Good post Howie, i live near the boot estate and there is nothing for the kids to do, but they don't help themselves by being abusive. I'm lucky that where i am it's ok. It is actually a minority who are causing these problems. I think generally the community are ok on the whole.

[kat2]

gosh, how many times have i heard that theres nothing for the kids to do!
*gawed* compared with years ago theres plenty, theres television on twenty four seven, theres computers, theres playstations, most of the so called thugs have all these sorts of things, theres mobile phones,
the trouble with todays children is that they have forgotten how to play, they think play means expensive toys, mobile phones,
kat

[shytalk]

[size=4][b] The most reactionary solutions, ranging from forcing youth into a special army detachment to incarcerating those wearing hoods into special camps, have been voiced over the local airwaves

Would this include Arabs ?

[Kev]

I hope the author isn't trying to blame all this on capital of culture and investment in the city center and other areas?

There's also a lot of reference to 'Working Class', haven't you got to be 'working'?

Is this is an image of deprivation?

Or the images of tear arsing around on motorbikes and owning expensive dogs, priorities?

[Howie]

Peoples behaviour is not determined by some objective reality but rather by their subjective perceptions of that reality. It therefore follows that it is not absolute poverty but relative poverty that gives rise to social problems. It is the unacceptable level of inequality that is the underlying factor which is damaging our society and in Liverpool we have seen the gap widen between rich and poor more than any other city in the UK.

[Kev]

Rather than working out of your situation, follow crowd and use violence when-ever it suits their mood. Boundaries stop a person from going down the criminal route, u begin to form a longer term view of how to get yourself out of a situation, these boundaries formed by parenting, regardless of wether or not there is earned money coming in.

[lottie]

Kat, i agree that the kids have no imagination about play, it has to cost, but some of the kids here want to go out, not sit on computers and watch tv. All they have is a swimming pool. I'm not making excuses for them but i won't allow my kids to go to places like Croxteth Park on their own due to the behaviour of the minority, I'm lucky that my kids (and my neighbours) have got a very good imagination and play the games we did as kids. I think that the parents play an important role in the upbringing of their kids and should be held accountable to an extent.