Orchard Park Estate

Orchard Park Estate
Caldane, with Milldane flats behind, Danepark (2008)
Orchard Park Estate Orchard Park Estate shown within the East Riding of Yorkshire
OS grid reference	TA068339
Unitary authority	Kingston upon Hull
Ceremonial county	East Riding of Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HULL
Postcode district	HU6
Dialling code	01482
Police	Humberside
Fire	Humberside
Ambulance	Yorkshire
EU Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament	Kingston upon Hull North
List of places UK England Yorkshire

Coordinates: 53°47′24″N 0°22′48″W / 53.790°N 0.380°W / 53.790; -0.380

Orchard Park Estate is an area or housing estate situated on the north-western side of Kingston upon Hull, England.

Geography

The Orchard Park estate is on the northern eastern fringe of the western part Kingston upon Hull adjacent to the city boundary. Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire is 1 mile directly to the west; the North Hull Estate (Greenwood Avenue) is contiguous adjacent to the south; the eastern boundary is formed by the Beverley and Barmston Drain, beyond which is more housing, and the River Hull (0.5 mile); to the north is open farmland.^[1]

As of 2014 primary schools in the area are Thorpepark Primary;^[2] The Parks Primary Academy;^[3] and St. Anthony's (Roman Catholic).^[4]

Population and environment

Population at the 2001 and 2011 censuses was around 4,600, with the inhabitants being mainly white families (over 90%), predominately working class. Social housing represented 68% of all housing stock in 2011 (75% in 2001). Unemployment was extremely high in both national and local terms, at 27%.^[5] The area has suffered historically from a self re-inforcing negative perceptions of the area, resulting in low house prices, low desirability of properties; the 'Radburn' layout has been criticised as being partially responsibility for problems with public spaces, due to a lack of a sense of clear ownership of outside spaces, such as parking areas.^[5]

The layout of the estate has been characterised as a poorly implemented 'bastardised' version of the Radburn layout.^[5]

History

Prior to the estate's development the land was open drained farmland; the northernmost housing development was on the south side of Orchard Park Road (formerly North Carr Lane, dating to at least 1850s). At the west side of the crossing of the road and the Beverley & Barmston drain (Cold Harbour Bridge) was Orchard Park Farm (formerly Cold Harbour farm).^[6]

In the 1930s the development of the North Hull Estate brought the urban growth of Hull to the edge of North Carr Lane.^[7] A church St. Michael and All Angels was built on the north side of North Carr Lane c. 1934; it was replaced by another church c. 1955–7, with the older building reused as a church hall.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

1960–2000

Gorthorpe flats (2012)

Construction of the Orchard Park Estate was begun in 1963. The estate, together with the Ings Road Estate in East Hull was built as a response to a need for more council housing stock, in part due to 'slum' clearances of older housing stock.^[12]

The estate took the form of four 'villages' (Thorpe Park,^{[map 1]} Danepark,^{[map 2]} Courtpark,^{[map 3]} and Shaw Parks.^{[map 4]}), each consisting of a housing plan inspired by the Radburn design, each with a central tower block of flats.^[12] An extension of Hall Road curved through the estate connecting from the Endike Lane (to Cottingham) to Beverley Road (to Beverley); use was made of landscaping with minor hillocks of made ground, mostly along the west and north side of Hall Road.^[13]

The estate was built with school facilities as part of the development. These were Thorpe Park Primary (east end of Hall Road, near Thorpe Park Road);^{[map 5]} Court Part Primary (Courtney Road);^{[map 6]} Danepark Primary (near Caldane, Dane Park Road);^{[map 7]} Shaw Park Primary (near Dringshaw, Orchard Park Road);^{[map 8]} Sir Henry Cooper High (northeast corner of the estate, Thorpepark Road);^{[map 9]} Sir Leo Schulz High (opposite Isledane, north side of Danepark Road).^{[map 10]} Additionally there were Roman Catholic schools St. John Fisher Junior High School;^{[map 11]} and Holy Name Primary,^{[map 12]} adjacent on the west side of Hall Road near the junction with Courtway Road.^[13]

Initial plans for an 'integrated neighbourhood centre' made in 1963 were abandoned by the council in 1969; subsequently in 1974 the Orchard Park shopping centre opened.^[14]^{[map 13]}

Leo Schultz School closed 1986.^[15] St. John Fisher school closed 1988; the school buildings and site were later used by Humberside Police as a training centre.

2000–present

In 2001 the area had high levels of unoccupied housing at 26%.^[5]

Shaw Park Primary closed in 2001.^[16] Danepark Primary closed 2002.^[17] In 2002 the Parks Primary school (Courtway Road, Court Park School site) was formed from the merger of two primary schools.^[18]

Two high-rise flats in the Danepark area (Milldane) were demolished in 2002.^{[map 14]}^[19] Two of three high-rise flats in the Thorpe Park area (Homethorpe) were demolished in 2002 and 2004 (Drake House and Vernon House).^[19]^[20]^{[map 15]}

In 2003 the violent murder of Rachel Moran was carried out by Michael Little on the estate.^[21]^[22]

In 2008, Hull City Council approved a bid for Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding to redevelop the estate; this was approved by Housing Minister John Healey in July 2009, with an allocation of £156 million.^[23] In 2010, the then Liberal controlled Hull City Council approved the demolition of all remaining high-rise tower blocks on the estate;^[24] with over 600 new homes planned to be built on the estate.^[25]^[26] The council's plans to demolish and rebuild housing using PFI funding were upset by cuts in government funding.^[27] with the government cancelling all "Housing PFI" projects that were at the 'pipeline' stage.^[23] Other PFI projects on the estate outside the project continued, including the "Extra Care PFI", involving construction at Homethorpe, and the demolition of high-rise and mid-sized flats on the estate were not affected.^[23]

Following control of the council passing to the Labour party the flat demolition decision was reviewed, with a report in 2012 recommending the demolition of the flats (Gorthorpe,^{[map 16]} Kinthorpe,^{[map 17]} Laxthorpe,^{[map 18]} and Highcourt.^{[map 19]}).^[24] In mid 2012 the council decided to refurbish two of the flats (Gorthorpe, and Kinthorpe) due to demand for housing, and demolish the others.^[28]

Sir Henry Cooper High School was closed in 2012, with most students and teachers transferring to Thomas Ferens Academy.^[29] The Parks Primary school closed 2013,^[30] re-opening as The Parks Primary Academy in late 2013.^[3] Holy Name primary school was renamed St. Anthony's Primary in 2013 after the closure of the nearby Holy Name church.^[31]^[32]

The 22 storey Bridgeman House (Homethorpe) was demolished in 2012.^[19]^[33]^{[map 15]} The 22 storey Ashthorpe,^{[map 20]} and Milldane tower blocks,^{[map 14]} were demolished in 2013.^[34]^[35]

In 2013 the city council approved funding for improvements to the housing stock – the main activity was to be energy efficiency improvements to the 1,195 low rise houses of the Wimpey no-fines house type; specifically insulative cladding.^[36]^[37]

The tower block at High Court was scheduled for demolition in 2014,^{[map 19]} having had its tenancy reduced to only 4 people;^[38] the demolition was completed in March 2015.^[39] In March 2014 agreement was reached on work to construct a 52 house new build housing development on the site of the Bridgeman house tower block.^[40] In May 2014 the council decided to demolish the Gorthorpe and Kinthorpe flats which had previously been spared demolition and were planned to be refurbished.^[41] In 2014 demolition work for construction of a new shopping centre for the estate began; the development was delayed several years to the difficulty of finding an 'anchor' shopholder for the development, and due to funding difficulties.^[42]^[43] Demolition of the Kinthorpe and Laxthorpe flats began September 2014 by mechanical demolition.^[44]