My town has really changed

[CatbellsOnTheSeashore]

In a confusing and not very pleasant way.

It was gradually changing for the worse before covid, but the pandemic seemed to accelerate it, and I am wondering if anyone else has noticed anything like this.

It became more insular whilst more populated, the population increased quite a bit over the past 5 yrs. More and more dereliction, low council maintenance and an influx of troubled people housed around the town centre, which is now a no-go zone. Areas surrounding have steadily grown worse also, as it seems to be spilling out.

What does feel really different is that there are now lots of groups of men, hanging around drinking or sat on pavements together (not begging). Drugs took over the local nature paths and canal walks so now there are large groups of people out of their heads lying on old sofas at the locks, it's really grim. Women who used to cycle and run in these areas have more or less moved elsewhere or stopped.

More and more standard sized houses in low to middle income areas are becoming HMO's, yet with poor refuse organisation and not enough parking. I'm not exaggerating when I say there are literally trails of dog shit in the streets in many areas, too, which pretty much hangs in the air and the place stinks. That, and skunk.

We live in a decent part of town but it is coming closer, and I only have that perk due to inheriting my parents bungalow. More and more people are moving out.

On a walk to Sainsbury's yesterday two guys were holding onto a sign pole hovering over a bin. As I passed by one of them vomited into the bin and then spat/gobbed an inch from my feet - he didn't notice me particularly, but it was quite sudden or I'd have given them a wide berth.
This isn't unusual now.

I know people usually blame the cost of living and covid, etc, but this was definitely on the rise before. There is far more noise pollution as more buildings go up, usually industrial, and the roads are a nightmare. Infrastructure for actual people is decreasing.
That said, I don't think most of these people were thriving before, so it isn't a sudden change. It is as if a new kind of culture is growing, that doesn't care a damn about anything. Everything is vandalised or shat on. More and more windows are broken in properties close to the town centre, and I doubt most of these people were thriving before the pandemic hit.

Is this bad luck or is anything like it happening elsewhere?
We are definitely looking to move away.

Many just end up in the Deliveroo/low wage economy anyway and will need propping up with tax credits.

@User135644 single people get very little entitlement to benefits. But even if they get some, if they were working they would not be sitting about in cafes or parks with large groups if friends.

That's legal migration, which exploded after Brexit.

There's been a 25% cut to council budgets over the 2010s. A quarter less funding to do more stuff, not less. No wonder the basic structures and services are going to shit.

Like someone said Germany and France etc are having the same problem so Brexit or no Brexit would of made no difference.

The problem you are discussing is alcoholics/junkies in your local town but they've always been a problem in my town, even in the 1800s they had gin aka mother's ruin and alleyways full of drunks. It's a separate issue maybe in your town you haven't been affected by immigration as much as other areas so naturally you want to talk about what you see and affects your daily life.
But arguably the absolutely insane immigration numbers over the last few years is a much bigger issue many of you know about the issues in Afghanistan with women not even being able to go outside and speak in public but then people argue it's ok for thousands/millions of men (because it's mostly men) to move here with most carrying that mindset and apparently that will have no affect on our society. I'm sure someone will be along to call me racist but let's also not forget the grooming gangs in my home town I had to leave because it was no longer safe due to immigration from certain countries you couldn't go out alone after a certain time as a female.

So I no longer live there and no live in a relatively "deprived" as Mumsnet would say coastal town which is not "diverse" at all and has a fair share of drug addicts on the high street but guess what it's 100x safer than where I lived before

@Sunbeam01 absolute bullshit - the figure ( official figures) for up to June 23 was 906,000 immigration ( The Tory's underestimated by a fair bit) of which illegal migration was 38,000 approx - the rest of it is a combination of students , Hong Kong and everyone and his mother the gvt decided to let in to balance out all the EU workers in essential services who had buggered off .

These are from the ONS - that is not 'illegal' migration - it is nearly all migration the Tory gvt sourced and approved. The 38,000 is the 'illegal and not approved prior to arriving ' migration

I don't think you're quite aware that "sitting in cafés with groups of friends" is a sign of work they do.

Your thread is interesting. I live in an affluent area. The difference is that in the town now there are beggars everywhere sitting with written cards asking for money. many seem to be part of an Eastern European gang, others have drink or drug issues. One set up a bed inside a bus shelter. I saw one urinate in a bin, another out of his head on something crouched and pooed without taking his pants down..I think in his mind he was in a toilet somewhere. One difference is that in previous years they would have been moved on. There are less police but more than that, as they have rangers and security people in the area, people are afraid of moving people on as there is now a chance that people wil accuse them of being intolerant etc. I was really surprised to go up to London recently and one of the main station tunnels as you came out was full of tents. There was one couple having a really loud shouting match. So although Wigan sounds bad, you are not alone!

There's been a 25% cut to council budgets over the 2010s.

This has had a massive issue. I live in a deprived City. But the council used to do loads of street cleaning and PCSOs would move people on causing issues. Fly tipping was clearly moved away. And the council put on lots of family events in the city centre. All of that has gone. There is still sweeping of the streets, but nowhere near as often. Events gone, and very few PCSOs around.

Sounds very like where I live, I'm in a poor area of a medium sized city and the dereliction round where I live all but reduces me to tears, It used to be a bit rough and ready but it was lively, friendly and with a good community spirit. There was not much rubbish, most of the houses were owner occupier and the rental ones were in a reasonable condition. The schools are still good, and we do have reasonable facilities such as two health centres, two supermarkets and good transport links. However it is now filthy, many of the two up two down houses are owned by absentee landlords who do not maintain them and many are unofficial HMOs. There is one next door to me that has a constantly changing amount of tenants, there are sometimes around 10 adult s in there. Nobody (well I do) puts their bins away, there is rubbish and fly tipping everywhere. Loads of drug dealing (my neighbours were selling crack at one time) and street drinking. Some of this is due to the fact that the main charity that works with homeless people who have complex needs own a significant number of properties in the area. The drugs marker is like any other business and the people who sell it go to where the consumers are. Drugs are openly dealt and used round the back of one of the supermarkets which also has beggars by the doors and cashpoint. The council is effectively bankrupt and we pay the second highest council tax in the country! I feel almost sick with shame at the state of the area I live in In fact I went out today and was crying on my way home as it is the whole area is just so vile, I can't even stand to look out of the bus windows as i travel to and from town and I never invite people round as it is too embarrassing, Of course the council tax will go up by the maximum amount and tbh I feel like scrawling "fuck off" on the bill and sending it back to them, On my darkest days I think about the fact that I will die in my house and my funeral cortege will go past a load of fly tipping and overflowing wheelie bins. It is wrecking my mental health

I think a big part of it was everything was left to rot in the 2010s by the Tories (and their Lib Dem enablers).

Then there was an acceptance that things needed to change in 2019 (Corbyn's policies had gained traction) and Boris appealed to left behind areas with 'levelling up' rhetoric. Then Covid happened in 2020, months after Johnson took office, and fucked the economy up even worse. Austerity of 2010's left us terribly prepared socially, and economically, for the upheaval of the pandemic. Then Truss comes in and crashes the economy in 2022.

@QueenCamilla that is not true.

But the labour councils are obviously not improving matters are they? I'm talking councils not MPs

@Gogogo12345 They have had a 25% cut to their budgets since 2010s.

My local town is like this. And we visited a nearby one recently and I was shocked at its decline since I was last there.
We are becoming a poor society it's very sad

Climate change is only going to make immigration worse

There's millions of young, sexless, single men with no purpose in life.

1 or 2 generations ago most young people were in relationships.

This has been exacerbated by government policy importing hordes more young, sexless, single men with nothing to really offer society.

Near Stoke, they get people dumped from both directions - down from Manchester, up from Birmingham and London. Its not surprising social problems are going up when people are being shipped to poorer authorities desperate enough for money to take them.

There were nearly a million legal immigrants, see the first chart in ONS immigration data . This exploded after Brexit.

Councils lost a quarter of their finding through the 2010s. They didn't lose any responsibilities though. A quarter of the money for send, social care, local roads, parks, business support, refuse, transport, education, disabled children's and adult social services, homes, day cares, nurseries. What did we think would happen to our local areas and the most vulnerable people in them?

Interesting thread.

My large South coast University town, where I have lived most of my life after brief sojourns away for college and another to up North for various reasons, is the subject of much consternation and a high level of local authority corruption.

Since the 90s it's undergone a series of identity crises - one minute we were the "stag and hen capital" of the South (nothing like being confronted by a gaggle of 6 foot penises on a Saturday afternoon in town) then we're "student central" and nearly all housing development is student housing.

Currently a high end London based restaurant has opened up in the shambolic town centre and its opening was breathlessly heralded as likely to "save" the entire town by the local rag who covered the who's who of Z list celebrity in typical fawning manner.It's next door to Tesco Express, a stone's throw from a slightly notorious Weatherspoons and utterly incongruous with the boarded up shops and pop up market stalls that hide the empty actual shops.

I used to feel pretty safe of an evening in town but headlines every other day about sexual assault, muggings and stabbings mean I wouldn't venture out without a posse to back me up.

Another bit of town has been "under regeneration " for more years than I can remember with regular squabbles between councillors, planning a d developers vying for bigger slices of grants and funding that doesn't ever seem to be spent on anything tangible.

I've had to move to the outskirts for economic reasons - my niche "experience" driven independent shop went the way of the dodo at the beginning of the year due in part to online shopping. I've whined about it before on here, so I won't bore you.

Mental health and addiction and housing services are an utter shitshow and while many workers within them do their best, they all have a ten thousand yard stare and are mired in bureaucracy.

It breaks my heart to see the state of the place, and the human suffering in plain sight.

No idea what the answer is - it's apparently end stage capitalism in its death throes and a serious dose of hopelessness from what I can see, and the cynic in me wonders if it's redefined eugenics by stealth, classified by poverty.

Sorry for the rant, but it's something up close and personal in many ways for me.

I heard an older lady the other day say "what we need is a good war" after initially rolling my eyes I realised it made sense. All the previous generations have had significant wars that have controlled the population to a certain extent. Not only has it done that but it has also provided mass employment to the overwhelming majority of people. So without actually having a war how can we recreate that?

Sounds like you live in Nottingham. Sounds awful.

I am going to presume someone has a vested interest in placing the article. The place is a hell hole unless you scatter to the very edges.

That is fucking shocking.

We had the worst possible goverment at the worst possible time. I would not have given Boris Johnson a shopping list and some cash and trusted him to come back with the goods and the change.What on earth possessed people to think that he was capable of running a country? Brexit I guess...

They need to accept the horse cart lifestyle has gone...
It's not coming back, blaming immigrants, lack of coal mines and heavy industry isn't the answer.