To be annoyed at how everything is worse in the bad areas

[MarySmit]

I live in the poor side of the borough. One half is very rich, with houses costing several million. The other side is poor, ranking very highly on the deprivation index.

In the poor side, the streets aren't maintained, schools are poorly maintained. It's virtually impossible to get a GP appointment, in contrast to the rich side. Playgrounds don't have their broken equipment even fixed, whereas the rick side gets new playgrounds. Rubbish is left to pile up on the streets. There is also little appetite to tackle the gang issues.

It's supposedly a labour council here, but they might as well be tory. No one cares about the poor area.

Do others experience this? How can I effect change? I have tried so hard, but nothing happens.

I doubt that’s a general rule though. Where I live it’s the other way round- more government spending goes to the poor areas.

i have a relative who turned around the fairly awful are she lives in by setting up a community group. Took perseverance but she really cleared up her area and that brought investment from the council as they wanted to be part of a success story. So that sort of thing is where to start

most of the time the areas are usually down to the community in general, if they want nice things then why not look after and take pride in the area etc ?

It’s called the broken window effect. Small crimes and anti social behaviour attracts bigger issues. And it quickly snowballs to the point where maintaining a space becomes too expensive.

The council is more likely to receive complaints from people in the wealthier areas about things like flytipping, pot holes, grass cutting etc etc. People in those areas will readily ring the police about youth nuisance, uncontrolled dogs and so on, and something will be done.

Where I stay there's a fab new playground been built - funded by the community.

We have a litter picking group out once a week & a gardening group once a week who maintain a lot of the public areas & plant loads. A local pub supplies free coffee to both groups every week

It's what would be classed as an affluent area. A nearby town was complaining bitterly that our village was getting all the money spent on it. There were a lot of angry people complaining that their town had nothing & it wasn't fair we got all the money until it was pointed out that it wasn't council money & grants it was people in the village doing the work. They tried to get people involved in a similar scheme but there was no interest when they realised they'd need to put in the work.

I imagine that's the case in a lot of places

The council is more likely to receive complaints from people in the wealthier areas

This.

We moved from a deprived area to a wealthy area (same City) a few years ago and the difference is stark. If there's so much as a park bin not emptied, it's on the Community Facebook page with the local Councillors being tagged relentlessly.

God forbid their was graffiti or antisocial behaviour, they'd probably be marching to the Capital, petition in hand.

excatly,

Our town is like this. South rich and beautifully maintained, north poor with pot holes and terrible street lighting.

Your MP is the place to start. The rich people are probably quite happy to complain to him/her whilst the poorer people may not feel able to, or are too busy working, or feel there's no point.

So moan to the MP, ask what they're doing about it. Fair chance they're on twitter every day so reply to posts saying that's great, what about the school playground.... Find your parish Council and make yourself a nuisance or join them. Find some like minded people and try to make a difference in your area whilst trying to get people to do their job.

Get bothering your local Councillors and ask your neighbours to bother them too. Challenge them nicely but persistently.

Absolutely this

We live slap bang in the boundary of one of the most deprived areas of the city where it crosses over to one of the wealthiest. The differences are incredible. The park in the less affluent area is awful- I never take my children there. I’ve had to cut through it a few times and have seen used needles, someone who was drunk and unconscious in the middle of the afternoon etc. The grass is overgrown and the equipment is mostly broken. The park on the affluent side has won awards (it once won the best park in the UK). There are much more in the way of parent/toddler groups, children’s activities etc. The roads are better. There are more services nearby.

Interestingly though, my sister is teacher in a school in an affluent area and says that schools in more deprived areas tend to have better funding and resources.