To think a lot of the Uk looks like a state

[Novembermummy88]

Not sure if I am being dramatic or if years of austerity are really starting to show…? Lately I’ve really started to notice how filthy, run down and falling apart everywhere looks! I live in a town in the south east on the borders of the M25. Every where there are gapping pot holes (can hardly avoid the volume there are now and genuinely concerned I will lose a wheel at some point!), broken lamp posts, the volume of litter / filth on the roads seems very high and can’t remember the last time I saw a road sweeper, and things like pathways are a state, road markings worn out, SO many closed/dilapidated shops….the town just looks awful as do many of the nearby towns! Is it just the South East looking like this? Aibu?! Or have I watched too much Selling Sunsets and setting my expectations too high…???

Really? Ugly buildings? I’ve traveled a lot and really don’t see it that way.

Totally! I was walking from work today and thinking the same thing..I am
also in South East, in town that used to be considered as “posh“ 15-20 years ago…It’s not anymore! Patchy roads, litter everywhere, old abandoned shops..I think if it was not for the parks which are still green and pretty, it would have been a very depressing town to live in…

My road is disintegrating into a mass of potholes. I saw a guy in a nearby street taking photos of potholes the other day, either he'd had an accident there or was thinking he might.

Litter, yes, seems worse. People have always littered, that's nothing new - maybe they're littering more now, I can't say. But I haven't seen any street cleaners for a good while now.

Depressing.

sorry it was sarcasm. I am a migrant. My comment was aimed at the idiots suggesting migrants didn't have take pride in their surroundings

TBH, I think this is missing the important stuff. It's not average people in the suburbs and rural areas that kickstart the change that's needed. Most of us, including me (because I am 66) want to live a fairly quiet comfortable life and whinge on MN about what's going wrong. Happy to admit that after 45 years of working, child-rearing etc, that I am never going to be an activist again. But I can and will be a thorn in the side of all the politicians who seek power at every level, whether it's local parking or national taxation policy.

Bolton town centre’s demise has been particularly upsetting to watch. The Conservative leader of the council, Martin Cox was interviewed on TV and when saying the council probably should have acted sooner to stop the problems seemed to give a bit of a shrug

Labour lost control of Bolton Council in 2019;

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-48220442

2017
Not sure what the European union ever did for trashcan towns in the north such as Bolton.

www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/23/bolton-response-market-city-decline

@Myfabby yes sorry I realised you were joking but was the OP @Novembermummy88 ? Q: Or am I completely dense? A: Yes probably!!

Glad someone lives in a place running efficient services for the core things. Doesn't have to be political.

I went to Barcelona last year and bins were emptied every single night, streets were constantly being cleaned. Residents took pride too- I saw a lady who's dog had a wee on the pavement and she immediately poured water on it and squirted some disinfectant or something she was carrying on it...never seen anyone do anything like that on the pavements here. Go to Dubai and it's absolutely spotless and shiny. Australia's beaches are clean and glorious not like ours with dog shit and litter everywhere. England is really falling behind on very basic standards and it's embarrassing. It's hard to notice when you're living in it, a bit like ageing - you see yourself every day in the mirror so you don't notice the decline but twenty years down the road and everything has fallen apart.

It's just that picking up roadkill is not a core thing.

Whilst I am in agreement, I think it's a bit rich blaming migrants. Last time I looked there were plenty of weasel faced 100% white British dropping litter outside MaccyDs and throwing stuff out of cars, clogging up A&E pissed as farts etc.

The one thing we really noticed when we were living in Copenhagen was infrastructure and cleanliness. I just think it was a different mentality. Public loos were immaculate, tables got cleared, stuff was constantly being painted. Yes it's a smaller country , but it's all relative. They earn more, pay higher tax and have higher expectations

It's very sad. All the comments seem to be agreed on the lack of go-ahead visionary local leadership in the town. The EU wouldn't have been able to assist if there weren't people on the ground fighting for Bolton's corner.

We went to Ile de Re on holiday 20 years ago and bins were emptied twice weekly, and the recycling bins were serviced as standard. By 3 pm, after market day, the council cleaning crew had tidied everything. I don't remember our hosts/landlords complaining about their rates. I do recall the local ordinances that controlled paint choices. There was a selection of approved colours though. A purple door would have got the homeowner an instant fine.

The causes are many but I fear what we’re witnessing/living through is the decline and fall that happens at some point with all great civilisations. We peaked in Victorian times and now are on the way down. China, India are on the way up. An inevitable cycle

@FruHagen, I understand you very well. I'm sorry that you feel so sad - but it is a sadness I - and numberless others - share. My family lost 2 members of in the World Wars - one of my grandfathers also lost a leg - and the shadow of those 2 wars hung heavy as I grew up. I cannot believe that so much was sacrificed...for us to end up like this - in a mere 30 years. It is beyond a catastrophe.

Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear. Sure there are plenty of beautiful buildings in the UK but in general houses, schools, shops, tower blocks, offices etc. are built in a mass produced style which has really aged and many buildings appear dated and crumbling/derelict.

I'm in the NW, a small, faded Victorian seaside town. Flytipping is rampant, the streets are unswept and even the charity shops are closing down. There are very few independent shops: no baker, butcher, grocer, greengrocer, cobbler, fabric retailer - well, you get the picture. Several chain stores and some banks have closed too. It's become a drab, down-at-heel ghost town. Austerity has served its purpose.

I don't know where you got that idea but it's bollocks.

NHS spending as a % of GDP from 1950 - 2020
NHS spending as a % of GDP increase by about 63% over the 13 years of the Blair-Brown governments. It did not "triple in a decade"
Health spending in the UK over the previous decade has been 18% or 40 billion below the average of our EU neighbours

Where I live, there are streets of HMOs with overflowing skips - this is a constant problem and the Council does nothing. As a result, the foxes and seagulls wreak havoc on the rubbish and spread it everywhere.

This has nothing to do with laziness. Some towns do not have reliable rubbish collection. Blame the problem - the government - not "lazy people."

Exactly. I live in a supposedly posh part of surrey and there are a disgusting amount of potholes. Which is why I roll my eyes when people say the decline of the country is due to a certain demographic!

Are you sure? 😂

Visited Athens a few months ago. Decades previously I remembered it as dirty, traffic problems and crime. Time had transformed it completely - clean streets, plenty of visible street police, beautiful and well maintained buildings. Mortifying and humbling to return to UK where airport toilets more suited to a developing nation, roads appalling and litter strewn everywhere. Much of Britain now looks like some film set for a Ken loach film - dirty, decrepit and generally a pervasive greyness. Places are supposed to progress - but feels like we are rapidly reversing to Dickensian times whilst much of the rest of ( especially Europe) gets greener, cleaned and more socially aware with good planning, buildings, parks etc. Here libraries, swimming pools and gyms being closed, shops going bust and children’s playgrounds; hospitals, schools and roads badly neglected and decaying. Sadly it’s not going to be an overnight fix

I think the Lib Dem's do well here in Bath too, I'm very aware of the difference when I go elsewhere. It's not perfect , but the difference from our 5 months in Windsor (Tory) is chalk and cheese

I never blame the foxes they are the good guys just trying to get by in a hunan wrecked world.

@Appalonia do you live somewhere starting with a G or is this just a common theme?