Goscote is a residential area of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The Goscote name dates back several centuries and as recently as the 1920s it was a largely rural area that had survived the recent

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

which dramatically altered the face of the region.

Location

Goscote forms part of the

Blakenall Blakenall Heath is a suburban village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands County, England. It straddles the border of Walsall and Bloxwich. Historically the village was a part of Staffordshire. It was originally a rural a ...

ward of Walsall, which also includes

Blakenall Heath Blakenall Heath is a suburban village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands County, England. It straddles the border of Walsall and Bloxwich. Historically the village was a part of Staffordshire. It was originally a rural a ...

, Harden and

Coal Pool Coal Pool is a housing estate in Walsall, West Midlands, England. Most of the homes in area were built by the local council during the 1930s, with a smaller development taking place in the late 1940s which marked the resumption of council house bu ...

History

In the 1930s when Walsall council designated Goscote as the site of a new council housing development to rehouse families from town centre slums. By the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939, more than 400 families had been rehoused to new council housing in Goscote Lane, Goscote Lodge Crescent, Hildicks Crescent, Middle Crescent and Hildicks Place. Further new housing was developed by the council around Goscote after the war ended in 1945. However, Goscote was in serious decline by the 1980s with high crime rates, unemployment and the deteriorating condition of the housing. Demand for housing in the area became low, leading to an increase in the number of empty properties. Arson attacks were also a frequent occurrence. The

ward was earmarked for major regeneration from April 2001 as part of the government's New Deal initiative to regenerate some of the country's most deprived areas. In May 2004, Walsall council unveiled plans to demolish nearly 900 homes in Blakenall Heath, Harden and Goscote, with the area around Goscote Lodge Crescent featuring on the shortlist of properties for possible demolition. These also included a large section of 1930s council housing around Harden and Blakenall Heath, although eventually some of the properties at risk of demolition were later selected for refurbishment. In January 2007, the local council confirmed that it intended to demolish 281 interwar properties in Goscote Lodge Crescent, Hildicks Crescent and Middle Crescent and Hildicks Place. By this stage, several houses on the estate had already been demolished due to attacks by vandals and arsonists while they were empty. 103 of the 281 condemned houses were already empty. By April 2008, just over 20 families remained on the condemned estate, which the remaining residents were now comparing to war-torn

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

due to increased arson, looting and vandalism. Some of the condemned properties had already been demolished by this stage, and within a year almost all of the estate had been demolished. The final resident left the estate in July 2011, enabling the demolition to be completed. Plans for 808 new homes on the estate were announced at the end of that year, with construction work to begin in 2018. Planning permission was granted in late 2018 for the third and final phase of 407 new homes to be built in partnership between

Walsall Housing Group Walsall Housing Group Limited (or whg) is a not-for-profit housing association. It was founded in March 2003 and is currently responsible for more than 21,000 homes, primarily in the borough of Walsall, West Midlands. These homes were previously ...

and Keepmoat Housing. As of July 2020 construction work was in progress on the phase.

Gallery

File:Landscaping to towpath at Goscote Valley - geograph.org.uk - 264034.jpg, Landscaping to towpath at Goscote Valley File:Top Lodge at Goscote Hospital - geograph.org.uk - 264045.jpg, Top Lodge at Goscote Hospital File:Goscote Hospital - geograph.org.uk - 264042.jpg, Goscote Hospital, former isolation hospital File:Going going gone ^ - geograph.org.uk - 1242321.jpg, Demolition in Goscote Lodge Crescent, October 2008 File:Hollands Bridge near Goscote - geograph.org.uk - 264025.jpg, Hollands Bridge near Goscote

References

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