Who on here grew up on a council estate/still lives in one?

[DrNortherner]

I did.

What is your experience? Good/bad?

Made me laugh on the education thread where arabella whats her name boasts about her kids walking through a council estate to get to school.

Tough we could have a discussion.

[misdee]

not really 'estates' here as such, but high % mixed with private homeowners.

i grew up in a council/ex council area. was fine. no idea who in teh area lived in council/excouncil houses tbh.

currnetly live in a council/HA area. no mojor problems. but then most of my neighbourrs are over 60

[TillyScoutsmum]

I grew up on the 16th floor of a council tower block (subsequently knocked down for becoming a drug den )

My mum still lives on a council estate, albeit about 70% of the street have now bought their houses.

I had no problems living there as a child - didn't really know any different tbh. The sense of community seemed to be much stronger than where I am now, but I suspect that could just be because time has moved on

[thisisyesterday]

I did, and my parents still live there. but they are mostly privately owned now (weren't when I was little)

[DrNortherner]

My parents still live on the estate I grew up on. I agree about sense of community - I remember a street party when Charles and Dianna got married.

[TheProvincialLady]

I did as a teenager. It was a mixture of ok and awful. I went to the grammar school on the other side of town and no one else did, so I was a big target for all the other kids to shout horrible things at. That was about as bad as it got though, it was never physical. My brother had a tougher time. I used to worry about being burgled as we had more money than most of the families and it was obvious because of our car etc.

[Hulababy]

I did, all my childhood. Parents only moved out after my little sister left school to go to university.

At the time it was the norm for me, so my experiences were fine. I had a happy childhood.

However, the same estate now appears very rough, lots of problem and issues, and ust isn't a place I would want to be.

Where I live now, and how I live, is world's apart from that.

[hester]

Not council estate, no. But raised in council flat in street full of other council flats (above shops).

Was it rough? Would seem so to me now. Didn't then.

[WendyWeber]

I grew up on a council estate & it was fine but that was when millions of people did, before easy mortgages & council houses being sold off.

Since then the only real council estates left are the ones nobody would choose to live on - I don't think you can sneer at arabella for mentioning that.

[DrNortherner]

I can sneer all I like

[WendyWeber]

Yes, you can.

[ladytophamhatt]

I did.

I had the best childhood.

I would love my boys to be able to have the same sort of childhood but theres no chance of that here (deffo not a council estate)

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

I did. Parents were living on one when I was born, it is now a Not Very Nice Place.

They moved to another estate when I was 3. It was built in a 'nice' area (objected to heavily by local homeowners ). My parents still live there. It's largely privately owned now with most folks taking advantage of right to buy. DH's parents still live there and are still council tenants.

We moved to an ex-local authority home when we bought. The area again is largely privately owned, but there are a few council owned houses still. We arent on an 'estate' as such now though, it's a culdesac that is built in an area heavily mixed with streets of social and private housing. There are a few pockets of 'estates proper' with huge high rise tower blocks.

We've been lucky I think.

[wessexgirl]

Grew up in forces housing - not exactly council but similar - and had near-idyllic childhood.

Same area is rough as arseholes now .

I live in one of the 'dodgier' areas of town now - half council/half owner-occupied. Its reputation is undeserved, though - very little in the way of noise or trouble, and lots of children often play together outside in an olde worlde kind of way.

[Mamazon]

I did.
I grew up on one of the most notorious estates in london. it was so bad that if you wanted a cab you had to walk to teh edge of the estate and get it from teh main road.
if you needed and ambulance they would wait at the end of the road for a polcie escort.

kids would stand on balcanies and throw paving slabs at buses.

I am now living in a house in a private street. the enitre street know that i am renting adn that i am the tenant who is here as a temporary client. they know that the landlord is not a normal housing association and that they deal with women escaping DV (like me)/ prison leavers/drug abusers/those mental health issue's etc etc.

I am treated like a lepper and i would happily move back to my estate.
the kids were rough, the parents rougher but if anyone had a problem they would all rally round to help each other. we all knew everyones business and they knew ours. if someone's kid was out doing something they shouldn't an adult would tell them off, if they were hurt and adult would help them up.

I know that it was a different time and things are probably a lot different now, but there was a much stronger sense of community there than there is here. i think there was a solidarity of crapness. everyone was in teh same shitty position so everyone did there best to help one anopther.

maybe im remembering it through rose tinted glasses.

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

LOL! That reminded me of an 'argument' I had with someone at school.

She kept calling my family "rich" in a derogatory manner (PMSL!) because I lived in a 'better' estate than the one she lived in, and, because I had both parents living at home and my dad had a job! LOL!

I had a great childhood. The estate HAD to provide play areas etc and was away from main roads. So we had LOTS to do. We were also situated on a natural brook and associated greenery and greenbelt land. We were out playing all day long with lots of other children around and our parents had little to worry about wrt to speeding cars, etc

[chapstickchick]

I grew up on a very rough estate- notorious in our town,my 'childminder' was in and out of prison and on the occasions he was painting buckingham palace his brother would look after me !

as a result i know most of the 'roughnecks' and by that i dont mean just anyone who lives in a council property,my children are fascinated that i know all the 'hardcases'.

i actually think those days were safer and generlly it was a very comfortble safe life for a child.

[TheProvincialLady]

Mamazon are you really treated like a leper? What do people do?

We had an old lady move into our private block of flats a few years ago and she was forever complaining that no one would talk to her and she was bored and lonely. She eventually moved to the council estate (v rough) and when I bumped into her she was much happier. I think it was just that everyone was at work or just kept themselves to themselves. I can't imagine anyone deliberately ignoring her, she was very nice.

[WendyWeber]

I was born on a council estate in 1951, in a town which consisted almost entirely of council estates, & we moved out in 1965. There were a lot of families there then who would not live on a council estate now. OTOH yes, there was a strong community & all the kids used to play out all the time (no cars...)

The estate is now entirely owner-occupied, a 3-bed terraced costs c £250K & a 3-bed semi nearer £350K (it's near Heathrow)

[AvenaLife]

I grew up in a small council estate, whilst I was young it was OK, clean and tidy, nice people and slowly it started to change as 'rough' families started moving in. I didn't like to walk through it, even as a child. I went back to visit my mum at Easter, it even has it's own CCTV cameras now! The burnt out cars have gone and they are monitored by the police all day, every day.

[Mamazon]

all minor things really but they complain to my landlord that i dont cut my grass, that i am bring the "atmosphere of the neighborhood" down because i have a messy garden (trampoline, swing set, wendy house and childrens bikes)

they deliberatly park so close that i am blocked in, theywalk past staring into my windows, i put fairy lightsup at christmas..i had some pinned along teh boundary fence. the nieghbour on that side pulled them down sayingthat i had not asked her permissino and that she didnt want my "cheap tack" ruingin her fence......even though they were clear lights and looked quite pretty, wheras she has great big garish snowmen and moons and those big plastic santa things hanging off every brick!

as i say, its all sill stuff but they just make it very clear i am not wanted her.

[AnotherFineMess]

Yes, I grew up in an ex-council house and had a fantastic childhood.

I did well at school (despite it being a poor school in the country's 4th lowest-attaining LEA)and made wonderful friends who have lasted me 25 years (feel old!)

When I was 16 I moved with my family to a much more affluent area into a lovely 4-bed detached (with 3 bathrooms )and had an awful time. (very sad story involving a rich, outwardly 'respectable' neighbour who was/is a predatory paedophile and groomed my 11 year old sister before he seriously assaulted her). But even before this unusually traumatic experience, I found people to be far less warm, friendly and accepting than the people I'd grown up with.

I now live in an ex-council house back in the county where I grew up and I genuinely love it. I could do with a bigger house, but should I win the lottery, I would seriously have to consider whether I wanted to leave behind the lovely community that I live in.

(I just need to say, my bad experiences in an affluent area have not turned me into an inverse snob. But then because of my good experiences in poor areas I could never be a conventional snob either)

[SmugColditz]

I live on one, it's ok. It is a proper council estate though. Out of 300 odd houses, only 6 are owned. Nobody wants to live here and NOBODY will buy a house here.

[SmugColditz]

having read some of your stories (mamazon)

It makes me appreciate the fact that if I stuck my head out of my front door and screamed blue murder, I'd wake 20 families up, and at least 5 of those would come and see what was going on. They may not call the police but they'd send their big boyfriends over.

[AbstractMouse]

I grew up on a council estate, was generally fine my Mum lived there for 30+ years and was never burgled or had any trouble etc. It was great when I was small, lots of children playing out, snow forts on the field, playing in the beck, staying out until late in the summer months. All things my dc's will probably never experience.

There were the requisite rough crowd, had a couple of fights when older (me being beat up, I wasn't a fighter lol). Went to the best of a really really bad bunch of secondary school's, got decent GCSE's and very good A-Levels.

I live on a mixed estate of council/privately owned these days in a different area (200 miles away) and it's fine around here, there are your general teenagers who hang about, but they are harmless, and not much crime etc.

My kids go to a decent school with a very mixed intake, went to a party the other week and was very wow at the house and garden etc. It's a grammar school system for secondary at the moment, they take an exam (11+) then if they get good results are allocated to one of 6 schools? The rest have around 3 comp's to choose from I think. I'm not an expert as my eldest is only 5, although the main comp from what I can see seems to be very good (good improvement thingy from ofsted).

Can't see me ever owning my own home, and tbh if I ever get a council HOUSE instead of 1 bed flat I won't give a fig.