St Anns

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St. Anns is a large urban area of Nottingham, UK, with a population of around 13,000 people. In recent times, it has become notorious for problems such as drug-related gun crime - most notably the shooting of a 14-year-old girl, Danielle Beccan.

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[edit] History

The area was originally common land. The Enclosure Act of 1845 allowed the city to take 1,068 acres (4.3 km²) of the Clay fields. The idea was to ease the overcrowding in the St. Mary's ward, brought about by the boom in lace making. There was some industry and occupation before this time - brown earthenware such as Toby jugs, christening bowls, and punch bowls were made as early as the 1750s by Charles Morley, but it was almost another century before St. Anns proper was created.

The area was not just given over to slums to rehouse the lower classes. Although 10,000 standard back to back terraced houses were created, these were a great improvement on dwellings common elsewhere in the city at the time. A Lunatic asylum, parks, and a water reservoir were also built, the latter affording a panoramic view of Nottingham. There were even plans for an astronomical observatory. For the well off - doctors, solicitors, and factory owners - there was a grand tree lined recreation walk lined with larger houses. Twenty-five Public houses, plus the later addition of a London and North-eastern urban railway link, horse drawn and then electric trams, and three cinemas, helps complete the picture of a thriving area.

In 1969, the area was looking impoverished, with many of the shops and houses 100 years old or more. A local Housing Act raised legal standards for houses being 'fit for human habitation'. Clearance of some of the land began in December of that year, although building of new houses didn't start until 1973 and continued into the 1980s. However, the open plan layout with interlocking footpaths, coupled with poor street lighting, actually brought about an increase in crime. This renovation included the relocation of many residents to The Meadows area of the city, which has contributed to some of the gang related crimes (see below) in the city.

[edit] St Anns today

Initiatives are in place to rejuvenate the area, with building projects already under way (2005). These range from blocking off the small alleyways used by criminal elements as escape routes, to plans to demolish certain areas completely. Only time will tell if this proves successful: a similar initiative was introduced in the 1990s to combat the burglaries and vandalism of the 1980s with brighter street lighting and other security measures, but this was met with little success.

The St. Anns Allotments Network is the "oldest and largest allotments site in England", created in the 1830s and now Grade 2 listed as being of "Special Historic Interest".

Stonebridge City Farm, created in 1982, allows school children to experience a small working farm with real animals in the heart of the city, and which holds open days and fetes for the local community.

St. Anns, and subsequently Nottingham itself, became infamous after the shooting of 14 year-old Danielle Beccan. Although there had already been numerous shootings at the estate, the murder of an innocent girl understandably provoked outrage, and drew attention to the ongoing gun and drug war between St Ann's and the Meadows, another inner-city Nottingham estate. Mark Kelly and Junior Andrews were convicted of Beccan's murder in October 2005 and sentenced to a minimum of 32 years each.

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