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.

How have ‘rich men’ with yachts contributed to this lack of morale and bad behaviour?
Its a bit simplistic.

Actually I think it is connected. Its all about selfishness and not giving a shit about anyone else.

And it feeds into people becoming disenfranchised when they're struggling despite working 2/3 jobs, whilst they see "the rich" adding to their billions. When people feel disenfranchised, they're less likely to abide by laws and rules, more likely to do things like tax evasion, benefit fraud, low level crime, etc., all of which seem to be increasing among "normal" people these days. They perceive multi nationals to be evading tax, so they think "sod it, if you can't beat em, join em" and start working cash in hand etc themselves.

Really,really good post and I agree with all of this.

Where I am we have had a big influx of HK immigrants it is very noticeable but like your experience they don't mix at all.

Where I am we have had a big influx of HK immigrants it is very noticeable but like your experience they don't mix at all

They are generally quite productive and will very likely be an asset to the community though

I'm wondering @Feelingathomenow , if you lived in the same part of Birmingham that I currently live in. The character of the area has changed so much over the last 20 to 30 years. Once it was an area to aspire to live in; now its run down, dirty, full of take aways and charity shops, cars parked on grass verges so they are churned up to mud, I report new fly tipping to the council almost every week. Houses that were once owner occupied are now rented out and allowed to get run down. The stabbing of Leo Ross, the 12 year old recently murdered, took place not far from my home. There are more and more HMOs opening and sadly many of those who live in them seem to be those with drug, alcohol and mental health problems. Many of them hang around all day hassling people for money. Some homeless people made an encampment in underground carpark of a local supermarket, including using one area as a toilet.

Much of the blame for the way this part of Birmingham is now, has to be laid at the door of the Tory policy of austerity and the NeoLiberal policies followed by Governments since Margaret Thatcher. Birmingham City Council is also responsible for a lot of the urban decay I see around. Their mismanagement of the City has been shocking.

Yes @RingoJuice not disputing that at all but they do not mix at all they stick to themselves. They don't integrate.

It certainly sounds that way. The Labour police commissioner basically attacked policing in the local area, if it’s the same area note the closure of the police station coincided sharply with the rise in crime esp from youths of certain backgrounds using the bus down the main road. The Labour government in Birmingham is corrupt and bankrupt, they despise the affluent areas around it and want to penalise them as much as possible. The area has changed beyond recognition- I mean a 12 year old being stabbed in broad daylight by a 14 year old doing nothing more than going home from school. My DS knows people in that boys year - it’s why we moved we didn’t feel safe - it was always going to be a matter of time with the number of robberies of kids in the park many at knife point.

it almost seems a deliberate ploy to pull the area down - it all started with links to a certain school meaning an influx of certain people.

@Feelingathomenow The 14 year old who's been charged with the murder has also been charged with assaults on several elderly people in the area. I do wonder how this person wasn't picked up before for the assaults, particularly as he (I'm assuming male) seems local to the area. I know there are a lot of fourteen year olds about, but how had the police not found him before it got to the point where he was able to murder a schoolboy? Why was he out and about in school hours so he was in a position to attack elderly people? The attacks were reported so did the police follow up with schools to see which pupils were missing on those days? When I was at school, if you were seen wondering about during school hours the police would stop you and ask why you weren't in school. As with everything that goes wrong these days, I suppose the finger will be pointed towards lack of resources.

Picked up then what?
The courts hands are tied - they can’t send him to prison. There’s a policy of be kind and lead youngsters back to the straight and narrow -have family members in the police- but they should be taken off the streets somehow -but no money.

I wouldn’t want to jeopardise any trial but the charges involve 2 counts of assault on police officers last November and he was picked up very quickly.

West Mids police are massively under resourced- we’re talking less than 10 response officers covering some shifts in cities. The police and crime commissioner is shit and an embarrassment and seems focused on shutting down police stations to sell to housing developers. There’s parts that are becoming lawless

That isn’t my experience. Over the past two years my town has had a lot of families from Hong Kong. The parents are chatty at the school gates, they join in school stuff, attend church and volunteer there etc

@PygmyHippoBob everyone has different experiences I am stating what mine is which correlates with another posters @Feelingathomenow experience too which is not getting involved with the existing community.

It is the same near me they are shutting police stations and NHS community health centres to sell to developers for house building ....

@Feelingathomenow That's shocking about the number of response police officers.

Police are more in need of funding than the nhs. They are drastically more underpaid than the NHS and they are literally putting life on the line every shift.

What does ‘integration’ mean though? They have their own community, they are not hurting other people and generally contribute positively to their larger community even if they don’t socialize much outside the group.

I guess I don’t understand the issue, as they aren’t causing problems for other people (which we cannot say about others)

I live in the suburbs on the South London / Surrey area and our town is ok. Some trouble but nothing as you describe. I work in Croydon and thankfully my office is just outside the station so I don’t need to venture far from there as the town is pretty grim. I’ve worked there for 25yrs and it’s gone a bit worse, but has always been a bit unpleasant in places. I find the worse time is after school, there are many unpleasant kids hanging around the town centre causing problems. The police told me their work is cut out at that time managing it. But there are also stabbings and other crime. My son was mugged twice in Croydon and won’t go near there. My home town is only 12 mins away on the train but thankfully a million miles away.

My home town up north has deteriorated in recent years too. Mainly a group of young kids causing mayhem, and their family does not care, and people are afraid to tackle them. People are literally moving because of how it’s become now. Pretty sad really.

Ok, so you clearly haven’t experienced this. So elderly people lived in their homes for years. Largely rely on neighbours popping to shops, popping in if there’s an issue, sometimes neighbours might be the only people they chat to. It’s a great proper community. Suddenly all your neighbours only speak to them.

There’s shops on the high street local pubs catering to locals. But suddenly the people who live in the areas don’t want what those shops sell, pubs which have been there, as a community hub shut down because the new local don’t use it. The existing locals now have no shops of pub.

local groups lose lots of members as they move out the area, the new incomers don’t join so these clubs fold so the remaining locals lose these. Same with fetes, carnivals etc

You child goes to the local school. Kids exclude them because they aren’t part of that community, at break everyone is chatting in their home language. This drastically reduces number of potential friends for your child. A lot of lessons are spent dealing with kids and not understanding eg language barriers, not understanding cultural references etc.

canyou really not see how these things are issues.

@Feelingathomenow very well explained couldn’t have said it better.

it is exactly all of the above.

me and my partner were in a coffee shop and if you didn’t know you’d think we were in HK …no idea what was being said at all as it was all spoken in their home language it was a v strange feeling almost surreal …you feel like a stranger in your own country.

the problem is we can’t integrate the volume of migrants it’s not working at all…society is becoming fractured more and more …

@Feelingathomenow
i agree with a lot of what you said.
it feels more like there are parallel communities in my neighbourhood now, leading separate lives.. And the situation is not helped by the population increase. It feels crowded and more stressful using pavements and roads too.
Years ago I met a woman who had lived in my neighbourhood maybe 60 years ago. She described knowing and saying hello to so many people. They all knew each other. it sounded a proper community.