To feel so sad about what happened to our town?

[AbstractThought]

I wasn't born here, DH was, and I have seen it discussed on MN in the past. I am aware that many towns across the UK are in a similar situation, so this probably isn't anything special, but since most people talk about shop closures I wanted to look at it from a different angle.

In the past decade we have a ton more issues in the town than previously, often relating to homelessness and addiction, and the town centre, what's left of it, has become completely over run by these problems with groups of people fighting and street drinking. A lot of these people are in extreme difficulty, whether mental health related and/or drug issues. Crime shot through the roof, and even about 8 streets away from this it spills outwards to us in what was once a fairly quiet place to live.
We now have a constant stream of siren noise, day and night, helicopters are daily and whilst we personally haven't felt in any actual danger there is a horrible sense of decay and hopelessness. Just nipping to the closest supermarket is depressing, there are a lot of neglected animals and people having meltdowns in the streets.

It is how it changed so quickly though. I can't get my head around where it all started or why. I am aware of the contribution of politics, covid, all of that stuff, but it seems so incredibly extreme. The siren noise is the worst, it is piercing and never seems to end. This also seemed to explode around the same time as the area went downhill. Probably a mix of police and emergency vehicles. It is difficult to work or relax at home and if you are a light sleeper it can have an impact there too.

What I am wondering is if this is commonplace now, in what was once a thriving town? It is the sheer amount of troubled people which seems to have escalated the most, and I can't get my head around how this has evolved, in such a short space of time. It is like they weren't here, then suddenly appeared, it is difficult to describe it. Obviously the council can't do a great deal to help and I have no idea what the answer is. The most upsetting thing is that a lot of these people are so messed up that they can barely talk in a way that is decipherable. This includes children, and there is a growing amount of people who have barely any teeth. This is a fucking severe problem and I have no idea what will help it. We have mucked in with a few local charities but it barely scratches the surface in my opinion.
We are moving due to work relocation soon, so whilst it may not be 'our' problem after we have gone, this isn't the point. I am just so sorry that it has come to this, in likely even more places than just here. WTF happened??

This is the main reason we moved out of a large town to somewhere rural. We only moved about 15 miles away, but when we drive back through, there are huge differences - and it’s heartbreaking to witness.

We moved in 2018 and in that space of time, there are stabbings, a massive rise in homelessness, high street break ins, and even gun crime. (Home Counties). I’m so glad we now live somewhere that is essentially crime free and safe for our children to grow up.

Well i doubt the millions sitting on NHS waiting lists waiting for hip and knee replacements are able to wander up and down pedestrianized high streets. Someone im close to has been waiting five years for a knee replacement and hasnt been into his local town centre for years, Cant park Cant get a blue badge because despite the long wait the situation is seen as temporary

Cumulative, austerity- biggest, Brexit and covid

Turns out there's a name for what I'm seeing with the teeth - it's called Meth Mouth.

Sorry to harp on but just wonder if some posters are aware of what huge drug problems we have. It's a very specific thing and not about lack of NHS dentists (a separate problem).

The horror on the "needles in Gregg's" thread really surprised me. That was going on when I was a teen....probably longer but I only noticed as a teen.

Was 20+ years ago that my GP said they didn't like prescribing Valium because they had to risk assess who might be selling it to heroin addicts - if you can't get heroin, apparently Valium helps. It's only in later years they raised the addiction issue as a reason for refusal.

Btw my life is really not as depressing as it might look from my MN posts 😳😂

This ^

Meanwhile:

Total wealth of UK billionaires

▪️2012: £212 Billion
▪️2022: £653 Billion

That's up 3-fold.

I just want to go outside and see normal people again. Everyone seems so crazy now. I worry about how many animals and wildlife are suffering at the hands of these out of control humans.

It's never been this bad since I was an adult and I'm 50.
The Tories have stripped out assets and made themselves and their millionaire mates money.
In front of our eyes they have demonised the poor and made the wealthy have more money.
Only a fool or a selfish well off person would vote for them again.

Agree.

We are in a non council area that is separated by a busy road from a lot of single person council flats. It was very quiet and uneventful only a decade ago, but something changed quite suddenly. I heard that problem tenants were moved over as the elderly residents died off. It seems that way, but I don't know for sure if that was the how it began.
A friend who works for the housing dept told us that this was planned as far back as 2007. I agree with a pp who mentioned the welfarisation of council housing. Many things have had an impact, austerity just rammed in the last nail.
The previous residents were single working or disabled folk and the elderly. Now most of the windows and doors of these flats are permanently being put through. These are flats and homes that used to look cared for and inviting.

To watch this happen to what used to feel like our 'home' town is distressing. You see it chipped away at bit by bit. It isn't merely council areas that are affected. It is like watching something die.

I lived in rented properties for much of my life, and mostly had good experiences. What I will never, ever understand is why someone who is fortunate enough to have their rent secured will just piss it up the wall and destroy a home - not to mention the lives of those around them.

We luve in a holiday area on the SC .town centre has gone downhill.lots of homeless people, went to town .two were having a fight very scary 😨. M and S closed ,nothing in its place . Seems a national problem

To be honest I am tired of this issue only ever being reduced to poverty.

I actually believe, from what I have witnessed, that there is far more to it. Far more that is complex, cultural; sub cultures made up of people who have stepped out of society whether as a result of addiction issues or multi generational exposure to crime, welfare dependency or trauma. People who think anything outside of their street is their enemy.
They are honestly a different breed altogether, and I strongly doubt money would alter that mindset. It wouldn't increase their interest or belief in education.
There are people living in terrible conditions trying to thrive, who care about their environment and want a better life, decent schools that aren't rife with disruption. If I was dealing with poverty I would not want to be lumped in with that. Simplifying this behaviour as only the result of poverty hurts those who are actually enduring it.

You really agree that "money is being ploughed into them"? It's nonsense. Since the Conservatives gained power 14 years ago funding for services that would help them have been savagely cut.

It's bizarre that so many are discussing this with no context - not acknowledging, or are ignorant of, how and why this has happened. Behind the banal platitudes, the Conservative Party has been in the grip of an extremist economic ideology that will only ever benefit their already wealthy friends and family.

I work in this area and it’s not nonsense. You can’t force treatment on people - all you can do is offer it. It is offered, they accept and don’t turn up, or they refuse. Do you work in this area?

Interesting. In the 90s when a place was hollowed out it was mainly bookies , off licences and charity shops that sprung up.

This is why I moved to London, it never goes downhill like that. Every town I've ever lived in before (lived everywhere) has never fully recovered.

The sheer volume of people in London to pay council tax means services are so much better.

Just as an example I've got an online NHS doctor - there are still appointments available for tomorrow (Sunday!)

Thats a fair summary.

Though i think employers would still pay the lowest wages they can get away with, regardless of UC.... or as my mum used to say "Employers would make you pay them to work if they could"

Employers have been paying shit wages long before income support was introduced after WW2 BUT it has got a lot worse in recent years.

Many people are working v hard to stay poor and after rent and bills, many people aren't really better off then if they were on benefits and getting help with these.

Business rates and car parking charges are killing town centres.

But the biggest issue is Austerity, the cuts in services destroyed the social fabric of the UK to a far greater extent than other European countries, who stopped it after 3 or 4 years and started off with better services.

My home town is like this. It's so depressing. The death of the high street really didn't help. The local authority don't try to get private landlords to look after their buildings (in fairness, I'm not too sure what their powers are in this regard). Once buildings become dangerous, they're put under a compulsory purchase order and knocked down. There are many empty plots in the town centre now.

@AbstractThought The serious decline of my home town definitely started when the M&S closed down! As a coastal town, there were always problems before with substance abuse, poverty, mental health etc. but the loss of M&S triggered the total collapse of the high street. There's nothing but charity shops now.

We live in the village my husband grew up in and an incredibly/idyllic rural part of the country... For years my children could go to the parks, the beaches, out to ride their bikes by themselves. They're in there teens now and it's no longer safe, unless they're with an adult. We have gangs of teenagers roaming around at all hours. Throwing rocks at old peoples windows, smashing cars up, stealing from shops, vandalising the area etc... Things have changed so suddenly it's actually shocking.

I live in a small seaside town where people go to retire, but I grew up here. Crime isn't too bad, I'm sure it goes on but not to the extent op describes. But the town centre is derelict. Clothes shops slowly went one by one, replaced by charity shops and businesses that local people tried to set up but eventually they get shut down as well. Apparently the council charge too much rent but I don't know that much about it.
It's a shame but I now buy clothes and makeup online and only go into town for a coffee with a friend or occasionally a haircut. Even the bank I used is gone.
We get tourists in the summer on caravan holidays and things so it could be so much nicer here, a proper English seaside town but it's just empty.

I still have an nhs dentist because it's the same one I've been going to for nearly 30 years but they cancel regular checkups a lot, including for my 7 year old son.

I blame two things

1. Internet: stopped normal people using the high street, made space for depravity as no more social shaming
2. Family: breakdown of units but also just a less "lean on me" culture across all social classes in our country Yeah what about social services but what about US what do WE do for people?

How many times have I read on MN threads along the lines of "my sister is an alcoholic and a horrible person, now she's being evicted, and she wants to stay with me, my DH says no way, WWYD?"

And 95% say YANBU: "Priority is your DP, look after your kids, she's her own responsibility"

Once upon a time an extended family would have stepped in and sorted that sister out with carrot or with stick.

Now people are somebody else's problem.

We became too focused on the self and nuclear family.

Our sense of responsibility to extended family and community broke down

They want you to believe hard work brings wealth but does it fuck.justsimply set yourself up to be exploited by inbred wanktards.

Lagoony can you name and shame some of these people?

I'm from France but have always loved the UK and have lived here a lot, across the country.

Yes we can have problems in France and Spain as a PP mentions but truly the level of degrade in the UK is something else. I believe it is to do with no social pressure. The UK seems to really have changed on that level since I first came in the 80s. There's an air of "I do what I like", whether it's the junkies or parents with their kids. People don't hold other people in check anymore. Anything is permitted.

The UK seemed to start sliding away from Europe culturally and embraced the American wild west feel, but the problem is: Americans have the space to do that, brits don't.

I also agree with PP there is a lack of responsibility for one's own. If people felt able to work "as a mob" to say "who do you think you are?" there would be less bad behaviour on the streets. If people felt socially and emotionally obliged to support and fix their own people, there would be less broken people roaming the streets.

The attitude is "where are the police, where are the council, where is the housing" instead of "where are the brothers, where are the neighbours, where is the society"

This government have done this. Lack of investment in mental health services, closing sure start clubs, reducing numbers of police etc etc. It's not a coincidence that they've been in power for the past 14 years.

@taxguru definitely the Lancashire mill towns and have relatives the other side of the Pennines who report the same. As PP say a few picturesque tourist type towns are the exception.