New Community Centre, Grange Park - geograph

Grange Park is a council built and largely council owned housing estate in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

a seaside resort on the

Fylde coast The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills to ...

in Lancashire, England. It consists of about 1,800 dwellings mostly 1940s and 1970s housing, with a population of over 6,000. It is one of the largest

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

s in Lancashire and for many years suffered from serious social disorder with a reputation within the town for crime and drugs. Following the establishment, in 1997, of a

problem-oriented policing Problem-oriented policing (POP), coined by University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Herman Goldstein, is a policing strategy that involves the identification and analysis of specific crime and disorder problems, in order to develop effective re ...

initiative the estate has seen a huge turnround resulting in a Government sustainable community award in 2005.

Geography and administration

Convenient for the bus- flats on Dinmore Avenue (geograph 4106736)

The estate is part of the borough of Blackpool. The area is mostly urban. Grange Park is in the Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency. Grange Park has one electoral ward, ''Park'' with two councillors.

History

Derelict Shops in Grange Park, Blackpool - geograph

The estates first housing was built in 1948, and it is the largest council populated area per head of local population in England. For many years the estate was classed as a socially deprived area and encountered serious problems including poor image, poor educational standards, high unemployment rates, a range of social and behavioural problems and environmental dereliction. In April 1997, the ''Grange Park Initiative'' project was established to improve the estate and make it a better place to live. It began as a commitment by Bispham Police, who police the estate, to take a long term

approach to the communities needs after consultations with local people, councillors and the Resident Association groups. The ''Grange Park Initiative'' objectives when it was established were: # To improve the quality of life on the Grange Park Estate # To target criminals and those involved in nuisance and disorder # Create an environment for families # Promote partnerships # To encourage the accurate reporting and recording of crime, disorder and fear of crime The estate's first Neighbourhood Watch scheme was set up in June 1998. On 4 July 1998, the estate celebrated its 50th anniversary with a procession and an ''

It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show ''Intervilles'', and was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 Au ...

'' style competition on the playing fields of Grange Park Junior School. In February 2005, Grange Park won the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...

's Award for

Sustainable Communities The term "sustainable communities" has various definitions, but in essence refers to communities planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. Sustainable communities tend to focus on environmental and economic sustainability, urban in ...

as part of the

Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...

's Sustainable Communities Plan. At the award ceremony, John Prescott said of the estate, "The people of Grange Park live in one of the most deprived parts of the country...but they were determined to do something about it. Thanks to their energy and commitment, they've found new security and confidence in the place they live." Prescott also visited Grange Park during the Labour Party spring conference, spending time at the Blackpool

City Learning Centre A City Learning Centre is a facility in the United Kingdom which provides ICT-based learning opportunities for the pupils at the host school, for pupils at a network of surrounding schools and for the wider community. The centre aims to enhance ...

. On 31 March 2006, Blackpool Council hosted a one-day conference "''Sustainable Communities: Vision into Reality''" at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

where they showed how "a strong multi agency approach working closely with the community has improved life for the residents of Grange Park." In April 2007, it was revealed that crime on the estate had fallen by a further 9% in the preceding two years with the local Police Inspector, saying, "I think the drop has come as a result of a lot of hard work that has been going on over the last 10 years which is now coming to fruition."

Education

Grange Park has two primary schools, Boundary Primary School on Dinmore Avenue and Christ the King Catholic Academy on Adstone Avenue; linked with St. Mary's Catholic Academy. The town's City Learning Centre is located on Bathurst Avenue. It is a

state of the art The state of the art (sometimes cutting edge or leading edge) refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contexts it can also refer to a level ...

technology and resource centre which uses information technology to help local school pupils and community. It has three large training rooms as well as a professional standard broadcasting studio and radio station. The centre also has a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

and

internet cafe The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

Religion

Churches in the estate once include, St Michael and All Angels,

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

on Dinmore Avenue, which was founded in 1958 and Christ the King

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

on Chepstow Road which was founded in 1949, both of which have now been demolished.

Grange Park Wildlife Haven

Grange Park has a wildlife conservation area the ''Genesis Wildlife Haven'', where a variety of wildlife can be seen. The area had previously been a wasteland before in 2002 which then a group of children from the local school formed by Mrs Susan Barnes "Christ the King Wildlife Support Group" cleaned up the area. A nature conservation area was created for the benefit of local school children and community. A variety of birds have been seen at the haven including

blue tit The Eurasian blue tit (''Cyanistes caeruleus'') is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size. Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are ...

great tit The great tit (''Parus major'') is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of North Af ...

European greenfinch The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (''Chloris chloris'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some north ...

, blackbird,

blackcap The Eurasian blackcap (''Sylvia atricapilla''), usually known simply as the blackcap, is a common and widespread typical warbler. It has mainly olive-grey upperparts and pale grey underparts, and differences between the five subspecies are sma ...

common chaffinch The common chaffinch or simply the chaffinch (''Fringilla coelebs'') is a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family. The male is brightly coloured with a blue-grey cap and rust-red underparts. The female is more subdued in ...

house sparrow The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, a ...

jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...

kestrel The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour ...

pied wagtail The white wagtail (''Motacilla alba'') is a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which also includes pipits and longclaws. The species breeds in much of Europe and the Asian Palearctic and parts of North Africa. It has a toehold in ...

, robin,

song thrush The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a Thrush (bird), thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive Birdsong, song, ...

sparrowhawk Sparrowhawk (sometimes sparrow hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the genus ''Accipiter''. "Sparrow-hawk" or sparhawk originally referred to ''Accipiter nisus'', now called "Eurasian" or "northern" sparrowhawk to distinguish it f ...

and

woodpigeon The common wood pigeon or common woodpigeon (''Columba palumbus''), also known as simply wood pigeon, wood-pigeon or woodpigeon, is a large species in the dove and pigeon family (Columbidae), native to the western Palearctic. It belongs to the g ...

. In May 2007, pupils from Christ the King school built a small pond in the haven.

References

External links

Blackpool City Learning Centre websiteChrist the King Catholic School website
{{Blackpool geography Geography of Blackpool