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…???

Are we only allowed to post what others agree with or we are trolling

Reported the troll hunter

Agree.
A lot of it is lack of funding and a lot is lack of care .
I often wonder what visitors to the country think .

Snitch

Yes, there's not much left now of the big investments that Labour put in. (Although I'm no fan of the Blair way)
Tories have run down the country in order to make a few people very rich. They do it in cycles.

We have banks, energy companies and other industries making record profits - absolutely OBSCENE profits - while working people are told to go without, work harder and suffer quietly.

Anyone who ever voted Tory or Lib Dem holds a responsibility for what they have done to this country.

Truth

Agree. Loads of places, most places I go. It seems rapid, potholes, closed shops on high street, just dingy and grim.

They are on full on looting don't give a shit mode now as they face electoral oblivion and Liz Truss pops up to call foul when she and Kamikaze Kwarteng cost us 50bn. An apology would have been nice and there you have it.Angela Rayner was right they are scum.

Had a reletive stay from Australia last year who kept mentioning how dreary and run down the country looked, and now I see it all the time! Miserable.

Yes, there are many parts of the UK which are overcrowded, badly designed building-wise and neglected.

I disagree that it's always somehow the government's fault, whichever one is in power. Some things are our own responsibility, especially things like the dreadful litter problem.

I choose to live very rurally, it's utterly beautiful here, not depressing at all even in the worst weather. Yes, there are potholes in the road.....out here, the local farmer or businesses will fill them in. The litter is picked up regularly, we have a system of "wombles" who are out at weekends and evenings picking the litter themselves, along lanes but also the along the busy main roads.....even families with children on Sunday mornings, which is very heartening to see. New building developments are carefully scrutinised by everyone, fiercely debated and often changed as a result.

It takes people to care about their environment, to be passionate about getting involved and doing something rather than just complaining.

We recently went back to visit our old district in London. I was shocked at the litter everywhere, all over the playgrounds and streets. A friend said it had been months since she’d seen a street cleaner. I don’t remember litter on that level but perhaps when you live among it you get immune. Clearly the council have cut these kind of services. At the same time building huge multi storey towers and adding more people without the basic services.

The tories slashed budgets and brought us brexit and we’re turning on each other/migrants/teenagers. It’s what they wanted. Meanwhile, it costs £14k a year to heat Rishi Sunak’s pool in the mansion he has in his constituency.
but yeah, forrins

One thing I've noticed in particular is the horrendous littering along the dual carriageways near us. It's absolutely disgusting and we are in a tourist area too. I get so angry when I see cars go by and rubbish being thrown out. I just don't get why people still do this. Also the dead animals in the road that are no longer collected. Blood and guts all over the road which must really upset children. I sometimes feel like we live in a third world country. It's so very sad.

And charging eye watering council tax because these homes are ‘valued’ at astounding prices. Every single one of those tiny holes, or ‘luxury flats’ (I live in one of them)

The slums of the near future. Built to be knocked down. Absentee landlords, they dump furniture oh the streets when tenants flee. See it all the time. All these flat roofed buildings are waiting for planning to change in the next 10 years to plonk more flats on top.
Developers have broken up communities particularly in cities such as London, so no one is invested in their area any more. You see all these planting areas full of promise on the plans but within months of opening they are dying, full of weeds and monster energy cans!

Yanbu.
I report fly tipping, litter broken glass and pot holes most days. We live in a grotty estate where the idiots out number the decent people so it will never be improved. I litter pick most days and no longer care who I piss off.
The local council admitted to me they won't send a letter to the estate pointing out how bad the fly tipping is as they got abuse the last time they did it.

It's been like this for years. I've always felt shocked at the state of most of the infrastructure here. Council buildings and libraries are grotty.

Agreed @Novembermummy88.
I'm originally from the area you describe (near Termimal 4) and when I visit family, I always wonder if road sweepers exist. Where I am, in the Midlands, the towns vary. But even the tourist places like Buxton and matlock have lost shops.
It's becoming increasingly harder to find nice places to visit. When I was growing up, Staines, Hounslow and Kingston were great places to shop.

I live in Sweden, a country with lots of space. Nonetheless, more than 50% of dwellings are apartments. You can go to a village or small surrounded by miles and miles of forests, and there will be apartments.

In the UK only about 20% of properties are apartments. If the UK were more accepting of apartment living, it could build more on less space. It doesn't have to be 20-story buildings either. Here in Sweden most apartment blocks are 2-4 stories, with lots of communal green space and small playgrounds around.

I live in the North East of London and you can't even walk here without landing on a massive spit pool. I am shocked to see the uncleanness right after covid even. Wrote to the council but they closed my complaint as inspection complete. Did f*ck all about it.

silly you, they’re not migrants - they’re ‘expats’

I agree with the overcrowding being a huge issue. I live in a country more than twice the size of the UK but with a population of 10 million. It’s a lot cleaner than the UK. Soon most of the green belts of the UK will be gone, the air quality will be so poor that potholes and litter will be ignored. Not helped by the wood burners and the culture of people feeling they have to drive everywhere that seems to be prevalent in most of the UK.

Agree that some parts of England esp are like this.
Went to Belfast recently and I couldn’t believe the difference in how their streets, kids playgrounds, roads, even bloody roundabouts looked! Everything looked freshly painted, looked after, lots of flower planting, the kids playgrounds were phenomenal! The equipment they had was all innovative, interesting, themed and looked new- the kids loved it.
The local sports facilities were fantastic, cheap, looked like brand new gym equipment, lovely swimming pools.
There was lots of parks and green space - all well looked after.
The local councils there obvs have some money AND care about the facilities that people use.
in comparison our streets round here are full of pot holes, the councils has decided to shut half the public toilets to save money, the local pools are minging and dated.

But then I suppose the Tories with their private schools and healthcare, cricket and tennis and golf club memberships, big houses with gardens, kids in sports programmes aren’t as fussed about public facilities as the rest of us.

The Tories have fucked the country, again! They always do this yet in another x many years they'll do it again. People have short memories and a willingness to believe bullshit.

‘You think the cure is to become those "dreadful immigrants" in another country.’

The Tories have don’t a great PR job here. People STILL blaming everything on immigrants and saying we’re ‘full’ when the reality is they’ve been starving public services, schools and NHS for a decade and it’s got nothing to do with immigrants.
You fell for it during the Brexit referendum- which hasn’t helped anything - and now here too.