Blackbird Leys
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Blackbird Leys is one of the largest council estates in Europe. It is located on the south-eastern outskirts of Oxford, UK. Unusually, the area constitutes a civil parish, which according to the 2001 census had a population of 12,196. The parish was created in 1990. [1]
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[edit] Origin
Archeology has revealed this site as one of Oxford's earliest settlements, dating it from between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Evidence suggesting pits and roundhouses, with remains of pottery and a cylindrical loom weight of a kind previously known only from East Anglia.
Modern day Blackbird Leys was built mainly in the 1960s to meet the then pressing need for accommodation, particularly for factory workers at the Morris Motor Company plant in nearby Cowley.
[edit] Community
Ethnically the population is made up principally of Afro-Caribbeans and whites. Little racial tension is evident[citation needed]. Although riots were reported in the 1980s and early 1990s, these were not on the scale seen elsewhere in the UK at that time, for example in St. Paul's, Toxteth and Brixton. The Blackbird Leys riots were not considered to be 'race riots' but related to opposition by criminals to the policing of the estate.
Around this time, Blackbird Leys was famous for its joy riding. Young men from the estate would steal fast cars and 'display' them (with a variety of high-speed stunts) to an audience gathered outside the estate shops (top shops), eventually gaining worldwide media attention (from CNN,[citation needed] for example). This criminal behaviour was seen as a defiant artform or entertainment by some. While some say journalists visiting helped encorage some of the action for filming. Various measures were brought in by the local council and police to stop the displays. Police often found it difficult to catch joy riders, whose stolen cars were faster than the police vehicles, though eventually a faster police car was introduced. Chicanes were built around the shops area, and an anti-skid surface applied to the road, making it difficult to execute handbrake turns and other stunts. Greater Leys (the newest parts of the Blackbird Leys estate) was specifically designed to minimise the number of roads entering the estate, making it easier to prevent drivers from escaping.
Blackbird Leys is reputedly one of the most deprived estates in the country[citation needed]. It has major social problems. These focus on unemployment (the rate is 10%, which is significantly higher than the 4% of the rest of Oxfordshire); and on crime, in the form of drug abuse (mainly of crack and heroin), street crime, a growing gun culture and anti-social behaviour.
The residents have the general levels of poor health associated with low socio-economic status, including a significantly higher mortality rate than is seen in any other area of Oxford. There is a sense of community between the long-term residents who frequent the local venues with theater and dances created withen the community.
In 2006 residents from the estate took part in The Singing Estate, a Channel Five reality tv show following their progress from amateur singers to classical choir. The Blackbird Leys Choir emerged from the original choir and continues today; just one of the community groups thriving on the estate.
Locally there is a sense of progressing south to more recently built estates. In the near future the emphasis of the city and northern suburban-villages as a focus will increasely be challenged by the new sports and leasuire developments south of Blackbird Leys (mixed with the upgraded shopping centres and shopping estates to the north & college in the middle) raising it from a far flung estate on Oxford's remote southern edge to the more affluent suburban-vilages to the north. Although social housing policies of the past have warped the demographics (to the opposite of New Jericho, built in 2000-2001 on former factories and a railyard), the inclusionist policies of the council have offered similar opportunities and services as the rest of the city. The high council tax in the city (mostly funded from rebate schemes like Council Tax Benefit [2]) make living in Oxford pleasant and stops Blackbird Leys emulating the worst of sink estates in other British cities.
[edit] Politics
The area has previously been staunchly Labour but the Independent Working Class Association is now a significant and growing force in local politics, holding three of the four local seats on Oxford City Council [3]. Local MP Andrew Smith lives on the estate with his wife, who is one of the County Councillors for the area.
[edit] Development
As yet, the area remains under-resourced and subject to tensions. Nevertheless, there has been substantial investment in a new football stadium and leisure complex along with the building of Oxford University's Science Park Magdalen Centre [4] nearby and many of the area's residents are working for regeneration and the establishment of a sense of community.
[edit] References
- British Archeology, September 1995 after main articles — "In brief" section, "Earliest Oxford".
