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…???

Roads are always full of potholes at this time of year- my local council have usually sorted them out by April. Town centres seem to be full of empty shops. My town has a fantastic out of town retail park which is a psi to get to without a car. The equivalent amount of large shops in the town center, only one mile away, stand empty and also many smaller retail spaces. It doesn't help that you have to pay for parking in town, but not at the retail park. My local town isn't dirty, it's just empty and has homeless people sleeping in doorways. 20 years ago that would have been unheard of- I only ever saw homeless people in cities.

We have a street cleaner in our area, just saw him walk past, everyone says hi and he chats to people.

But some specific spots are woeful. Outside a few housing areas it’s just dumped, household waste. Two places that get bad. Some of it is just not caring which is a shame. I think they’ve fixed one recently tg

We are very rural and I agree with you about the new hideous housing estates. They won't develop brownfield sites in towns that NEED to be used, they dig up our beautiful countryside and plant horrible red brick ugly houses in their hundreds. It's sad and grim - when the countryside is gone, it's gone forever.

I'm originally from the US, and I've always found the amount of litter and rubbish on the roadsides surprising. I remember commenting on it on my first visit years ago. I've never seen a road clean up crew here, come to think of it. In the US you'll see crews with litter pickers clearing the verges at the sides of the motorways (sometimes as community service punishment for small crimes). Not sure if more people litter here, or it just isn't picked up...

There was a very depressing article in the DM about how Bradford is the worst town in Britain. The pictures were horrific. I imagine there are swathes of towns that are degenerating like this. The UK is a shithole, sadly. Can’t see how things will improve.

I've never understood why more community service isn't spent on cleaning road signs, litter picking etc. crime is through the roof, get them doing something! I know it's the health and safety brigade that will stop this though.

Hi, yes our area gone downhill since moving here BUT not all the the Government fault, who ever is in power, why don’t people look after their properties, why throw their rubbish out of car windows, you only have to look at some people in our area to know what they are like, they think they are owed everything, spitting, swearing, everything has changed, it’s sad

Totally agree OP! We are in the North East and the littering is disgusting not to mention the state of the roads. I can't remember things being as bad when I was a child.

I’m in Sydney, Australia, and the councils seem pretty cashed up here. We get pot holes when it rains hard and I’m amazed at how quickly they are fixed. Parks and public areas maintained and upgraded regularly. Rubbish always picked up (littering exists of course but a relatively minor problem), street cleaning still done.

We do however have:

• estates with tiny blocks and no infrastructure (ridiculous), and even worse, built on flood plains! Government backhanders for sure.
• Rough, run down areas with high crime.
• General affordability issues but ironically interest rate increases is the most inflation households are experiencing as our Reserve Bank don’t appear to have any other tools available to them.

The UK sounds pretty depressing really.

In the U.K. it’s mixed. Some areas better than others

Well observed, @LetThemEatTurnips.

I worked for ILEA throughout the Eighties, and over the course of the Thatcher decade, the area around the school, which was pretty run down already, became really grotty and neglected. I remember London itself earning the name Shit City. It reminded me of the dystopian future portrayed in A Clockwork Orange.

Forty years later, here we are again. The local shopping centre looks like a hockey player's teeth, with gaps among closed and increasingly derelict shops, litter bins overflowing, and paving turning into an ankle-turning assault course.

I'm in Kent and I totally agree OP, it's unnacceptable. For the last 4 years or so I've complained directly about the litter to those responsible for the roads and it does seem to make a difference, but then it eventually goes back to the way it was - I haven't complained this year because I'm sick of doing it and it feels pointless. Also, different agencies are responsible for different highways so you have to do some digging to find the right one to email.

Do you have any understanding of just how critically short of housing we are in this country? Where exactly do you anticipate your children will live with their families when all the family sized houses are occupied by older and older single person households? Our population is growing exponentially and aging fast but some people seem utterly unable to grasp that we therefore need more homes for those people to live in. You can’t have your cake and eat it - I want kids and I want to live to a nice old age but how bloody DARE they build new homes in my area?! 🤦🏼‍♀️

The sneery remarks about new build estates are just nasty. I’m sure all the occupants would absolutely love a detached period pile but perhaps they’ve had the misfortune to be born a scrap too late to actually be able to buy a decent sized property before they’re 50.

Ignorant, nimby nonsense spouted by someone who doesn’t have a clue about their own privilege. It’s all very well sneering at those ‘disgusting hobbit houses’ but for some people they’re a desperately loved and valued home.

went to Reading last year and was shocked at the state of the main high street, everywhere needed a deep clean, stacks of bin bags everywhere, abandoned cigarette ends and cans, very sad to see. Not been back since.

And yet there are some lovely parts of the UK

I guess the real question is, is there anywhere more depressing than Luton?

I have relatives in Ireland and Dublin seems way rougher than it used to be, teenage gangs wondering around the city at night. I think the pandemic bought more drugs into some areas.

But the schools are not struggling as much as in the UK, most smaller towns have ‘tidy towns’ and are kept OK. The UK trains are so expensive, crowded, schools are not great, NHS is under a lot of pressure, lots of inequalities with sink areas, many towns look terrible but then again they probably have been for a while. I was born in a rough area of London, in a block of flats that looked really run down. Now it’s quite fancy but still has high crime.

@traceyseymourseesmore I doubt it 😂

I think we've been lucky(ish) here, as our nearest town has been awarded some regeneration grants in recent years, so the town centre is looking much better, although the grants were awarded because the town was already very run down. Services are terrible now though, and you can really see the cuts in schools, the NHS, roads, and other services and facilities. I think they've also been able to weather the storm a little using the payouts from developers building a seemingly endless new town on the outskirts of this one.
Outside of the town, things are very run down. We live in a village that was already known by locals as 'the village particular-council forgot', but it's a lot worse than 5 years ago. Our bus service has been stripped to a couple of times a day, and the paths are so overgrown and broken that walking safely isn't an option either. In some places the main path through the village, that is right alongside the main road and verge-less, is less than 30cm wide - who wants to walk along that with small children ducking the wing mirrors of lorries going at 40mph?! If you don't have a car, you're screwed. Our growing village school doesn't have enough money for things like new tables and chairs so we have enough for all the children (the PTA are now paying for that). We have a pretty active community in the village putting on events, decorating public areas, running groups, and litter picking etc, but that still doesn't balance the lack of financial investment into the basics.

Totally agree. A few years ago was driving to a zoo near Canterbury and going through a part of south east London (live west) it just looked like a shanty town. Even the “high streets” we passed through were run down with crappy looking shops. Once we got a bit into Kent there were lovely cottages and gardens. It was like night and day and the experience made me really unnerved.

Human rights / health and safety - I’m pretty sure it’s considered too dangerous to put people at the verges of motorways even if they’re criminals.

I'm in a village in Rutland and I was just thinking yesterday how lovely everywhere is starting to look with all the daffodils coming up. We have volunteer litter pickers here though, makes a big difference.

Interesting thread. I live in a wealthy part of the place people call "the North", and it doesn't bear any resemblance to anything described here...

You simply wouldn't believe the state of the roads where I live. It's like Romania 20 years ago.

The litter isnt too bad here (a different south east town) but the roads are a state. Massive pot holes everywhere and greenery growing down the edges and the drains flood as they are blocked. I understand local government funding was cut and they cant afford to provide these services, or at least only some services so different areas will prioritise different things.