Grange Park is a council-built estate in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, 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 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 social housing. D ...

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 r ...

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

Geography and administration

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

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 Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (31 May 1938 – 20 November 2024) was 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 ...

'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 i ...

as part of the

Government of the United Kingdom His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Sustainable Communities Plan The Sustainable Communities Plan was launched in 2003 and was a key policy of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Labour Government, guiding its regeneration and departmental objectives. It led to a range of policies and plans which wer ...

. 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. 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 is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

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 (SOTA or SotA, sometimes cutting edge, leading edge, or bleeding 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 contex ...

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, most often a lending 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 servic ...

and

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

Religion

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

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

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

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 Wildlife refers to undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also ...

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 (bird), tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognizable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size. Eurasian blue tits, usually resident bird, resident a ...

great tit The great tit (''Parus major'') is a small 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 No ...

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 norther ...

, blackbird,

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

common chaffinch The Eurasian chaffinch, 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 fema ...

house sparrow The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the Old World sparrow, 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 pa ...

jay Jays are a paraphyletic grouping of passerine birds within the family Corvidae. Although the term "jay" carries no taxonomic weight, most or all of the birds referred to as jays share a few similarities: they are small to medium-sized, usually ...

kestrel The term kestrel (from , 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 which is to hover ...

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 the Palearctic zone in most of Europe and Asia and parts of North Africa; it also has ...

robin Robin most commonly refers to several species of passerine birds. Robin may also refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), inclu ...

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 four recognised subspecies. Its distinctive Birdsong, song, w ...

sparrowhawk Sparrowhawk (sometimes sparrow hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the subfamily Accipitrinae The Accipitrinae are the Family (biology), subfamily of the Accipitridae often known as the "true" hawks. The subfamily contains 73 s ...

and woodpigeon. 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