Priory Estate
Encyclopedia
The Priory Estate is a housing estate
in Dudley
, West Midlands
, England
, which has largely been developed since 1929.
Urban District, which were in the counties of Worcestershire
and Staffordshire
respectively.
The borders were moved back several hundred yards in 1926 when Dudley Council purchased the land with a view to building council house
s to rehouse more than 2,000 families from town centre slums. Several hundred council houses had already been built in Dudley since 1920, mostly in the Kates Hill
area and on small developments around Netherton
, but the Priory Estate was to be the largest council housing development yet in the area as the town's slum problem was still far from being solved.
The boundary changes also meant that Dudley Castle was finally transferred to the borough of Dudley after centuries in Sedgley.
The foundation stone of the very first house, 9 Oak Road, was laid on 16 July 1929.
The first houses were occupied in 1930 and by the end of the decade more than 2,000 houses had been built on the estate. There were also private houses for owner-occupier
s built mostly on the south side of the estate near Priory Park, around Priory Road, Hazel Road, Woodland Avenue, Chesnut Avenue, Somery Road, Forest Road, Paganel Drive and Gervase Drive.
Three public house
s served the estate: the Wren's Nest in Priory Road (built in the mid 1930s), the King Arthur on the corner of Birmingham New Road (built around the same time as the Wren's Nest), and the Caves in Wrens Hill Road (built in the 1950s).
Priory Park was laid out in 1932 - the same year that Priory Road was fully opened to give Dudley a direct road link with the Birmingham New Road in Coseley
- incorporating the Priory Ruins as well as Priory Hall (former home of Sir Gilbert Claughton). Priory Hall is currently in use as Dudley Registry Office, and has been based there since the office's relocation from a building in Ednam Road in about 1990.
Most of the people living in the council houses on the Priory Estate were rehoused from town centre slum
clearances. They were generally pleased with living in new houses which had running water
, electricity
, indoor toilets
, bathrooms and gardens.
But the Priory Estate quickly ran into problems, with vandalism
, litter
, graffiti
, vehicle crime
, burglary
and drug dealing becoming widespread, particularly on the north side of the estate, by the 1980s. The homes of elderly people were targeted most frequently; in 1991, a plank of wood was hurled through the window of a room in which a 90-year-old woman was sleeping.
The most famous former resident of the Priory Estate is Duncan Edwards
, who was born two miles away at Holly Hall but moved to 31 Elm Road as a small child and went on to play 18 times for England
as well as winning two Football League championships with Manchester United before he died in 1958 at the age of 21 from injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster
. As a child, he had attended Priory Primary School
and then Wolverhampton Street School
.
The estate was served by a secondary school from 1965, when Mons Hill School opened on Wrens Hill Road (running between the Priory and the neighbouring Wren's Nest Estate
) to replace Wolverhampton Street School. This school closed in 1990 due to falling pupil numbers, with the remaining pupils split between Castle High
and Coseley School. The Mons Hill buildings then became part of Dudley College
.
The planned demolition was deemed necessary as most of the houses in this area were in a poor state of repair, with low demand for properties, a high demand for moves away from the area, and the environment has been plagued by vandalism, arson attacks, litter, graffiti and urban decay. The report also criticised the "isolated" layout of the estate, which is accessible from six points but only two of those points are accessible by motor vehicles. Most of the roads on the estate are relatively narrow (including one which is one-way) compared to roads on other parts of the Priory, which was less of a problem when the area was first developed – as virtually none of the local residents owned a car when the estate was built during the 1930s. The rising level of car ownership in recent years had led to many local residents parking their cars on pavements and even gardens, mainly due to the narrow streets.
Four properties on Pine Road had been demolished in the late 1990s due to mining subsidence, which also affected several other properties in the area, and another four properties on the road had been converted into community facilities.
The plans for total redevelopment were backed by council officials on December 4, 2006.
31 homes in North Priory had been bought from the council under the right to buy scheme
.
The redevelopment of the estate will see a mixture of rented and privately-owned homes being built on the site, as well as the re-opening of the exit onto the Birmingham New Road via Castle Mill Road, which was closed in 1993 for road safety reasons. Some residents in the condemned area expressed concern that they would not be able to move back once the redevelopment was complete, as the rebuilt neighbourhood would include fewer rented homes than before and few of the current residents would be able to afford the new private houses.
The new-look North Priory, when completed, will include the shortening of Primrose Crescent with a public park on the south side and housing on the north side, the re-routing of Castle Mill Road at its most eastern point to join onto Pine Road, with defunct vehicle exit onto Birmingham New Road being re-instated, while Fern Road, Berry Road and Heather Road to be extended to join up with Pine Road. Heather Road and Berry Road will gain a vehicular link to Priory Road, while a residential square surrounding public gardens will be developed from current corner of Pine Road and Thornhill Road. There will also be a home-zone running parallel with Thornhill Road and joining up to form a crossroads at the current Forest Road junction.
A signalled crossroads may be erected on Birmingham New Road, also incorporating Woodcroft Avenue on the nearby Foxyards Estate.
Commercial units and flats to be built on site of current homes on Priory Road, between the junctions with Castle Mill Road and Fern Road.
Dudley council had hoped to complete the rehousing programme by Christmas 2008, but that deadline was missed and when the initial demolition work (on Pine Road) commenced in April 2009, one house on the estate remained occupied (on Berry Road). The final house was not vacated until nearly two months later. Demolition was completed in October 2009.
There has also been speculation that other parts of the Priory Estate are due for redevelopment once North Priory's regeneration is completed, but council officials have denied this; public spending cuts have meant that any regeneration in the area in the forseeable future will take place in the form of improvements to existing properties rather than their demolition and replacement.
When complete, the rebuilt North Priory estate is expected to consist of 329 homes, with an approximate 50:50 split between private and rented homes. There will be a more varied type of housing than before. The old North Priory estate consisted of 262 houses (built in the 1930s) with either two or three bedrooms and a block of four flats (built in 1974), but the new estate will also included bungalows as well as three-storey apartment blocks and townhouses. Construction of the new homes began in March 2011 and the first residents will move there later in the year.
ists set fire to a pigeon loft
in the garden of a house in Linwood Road and killed nine pigeons. On another part of the estate, anti-social behaviour was creating so much trouble that one family gave an interview to the Express and Star regional newspaper openly criticising the local council for failing to respond to their demands for a transfer.
In March 2004, Dudley Registry Office (located in Priory Park) was set alight by arsonists. It took 100 firefighter
s a whole night to defeat the blaze.
Also in March 2004, a 90-year-old widow on the Estate criticised a judge for failing to hand out a prison sentence to the heroin addict and career criminal who broke into her house and stole £80 from her purse.
In April 2006, an arson attack caused severe damage to the Duncan Edwards public house in Priory Road. The pub had been refurbished just five years earlier and renamed in honour of Duncan Edwards, but had been closed a short time earlier in spite of its popularity in the local community. The building has since been demolished and plans have already been unveiled for the site to be developed for housing and retail, but construction work has yet to start.
The rehousing of North Priory residents in preparation for demolition resulted in empty properties being scoured by scrap metal dealers in the hope of finding items of value, despite council workers having already stripped these properties of tanks and copper piping. Most of the empty properties were vandalised in some way, while several were damaged in arson attacks.
gained a councillor in Castle and Priory (which includes the Priory Estate) in the council elections. The area had previously been controlled by three Labour Party
councillors, and the successful BNP councillor representing Castle and Priory was Simon Darby
.
Mr Darby had gained 26.2% of the vote in Castle and Priory a year earlier, and in 2003 he gained a huge 45% of the vote. It was surprising that a BNP councillor had gained a seat in Castle and Priory, especially as the area is 97% white and the BNP are often popular among white people living in areas with high numbers of ethnic residents.
In 2003, Castle and Priory was the most deprived ward in the whole Dudley borough, and among the 7% most deprived wards in England. A number of asylum seekers had been housed on the Priory Estate, much to the dismay of many white British neighbours. Many of the local people were in favour of the BNP's desire to ban immigration to Britain to all foreigners barring white South Africa
ns and Zimbabwe
ans.
At the time, just 23 patriations of asylum seekers were living on and around the Priory Estate, but they were already attracting resentment from British neighbours because Dudley MBC had been providing furnishings, televisions and refrigerators for free to all asylum seekers living in the borough, and this was making them appear wealthier than British people.
Many local people also saw the BNP as the answer to the Priory Estate's many problems that were nothing to do with asylum seekers nor any other ethnic minorities. House repairs weren't being carried out efficiently, the local youth centre was rarely open and the estate office had closed - leaving many people (mostly pensioners) without cars to walk a long distance to pay their rent. There was also anger that the European Union
had spent millions of pounds on upgrading the neighbouring Wren's Nest Estate
(which traditionally had an even worse reputation than the Priory).
However, Simon Darby was not popular with voters once they had elected him. He lost his council seat the following year, and once again Castle and Priory is a Labour stronghold.
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
in Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, which has largely been developed since 1929.
History
The Priory Estate is so named because it is located near the Priory ruins and Priory Park. It stands on land which once straddled the border of Dudley County Borough and SedgleySedgley
Sedgley is an urban village within the West Midlands county of England. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Sedgley was formerly an ancient manor composed of several smaller villages, including Gornal, Gospel End, Woodsetton, Ettingshall, Coseley and Brierley...
Urban District, which were in the counties of Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
and Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
respectively.
The borders were moved back several hundred yards in 1926 when Dudley Council purchased the land with a view to building council house
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
s to rehouse more than 2,000 families from town centre slums. Several hundred council houses had already been built in Dudley since 1920, mostly in the Kates Hill
Kates Hill
Kates Hill is a residential area in Dudley, West Midlands, England.-History:Kates Hill was the scene of chaos in 1648 when parliamentarians used it as their base in the Civil War against King Charles I...
area and on small developments around Netherton
Netherton
-England:*Netherton, Peterborough, *Netherton, Cheshire*Netherton, Devon*Netherton, Hampshire*Netherton, Herefordshire*Netherton, Merseyside*Netherton, Northumberland*Netherton, Oxfordshire*Netherton, West Midlands...
, but the Priory Estate was to be the largest council housing development yet in the area as the town's slum problem was still far from being solved.
The boundary changes also meant that Dudley Castle was finally transferred to the borough of Dudley after centuries in Sedgley.
The foundation stone of the very first house, 9 Oak Road, was laid on 16 July 1929.
The first houses were occupied in 1930 and by the end of the decade more than 2,000 houses had been built on the estate. There were also private houses for owner-occupier
Owner-occupier
An owner-occupier is a person who lives in and owns the same home. It is a type of housing tenure. The home of the owner-occupier may be, for example, a house, apartment, condominium, or a housing cooperative...
s built mostly on the south side of the estate near Priory Park, around Priory Road, Hazel Road, Woodland Avenue, Chesnut Avenue, Somery Road, Forest Road, Paganel Drive and Gervase Drive.
Three public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s served the estate: the Wren's Nest in Priory Road (built in the mid 1930s), the King Arthur on the corner of Birmingham New Road (built around the same time as the Wren's Nest), and the Caves in Wrens Hill Road (built in the 1950s).
Priory Park was laid out in 1932 - the same year that Priory Road was fully opened to give Dudley a direct road link with the Birmingham New Road in Coseley
Coseley
Coseley is a town located mostly within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it lies south east of Wolverhampton and north of Dudley....
- incorporating the Priory Ruins as well as Priory Hall (former home of Sir Gilbert Claughton). Priory Hall is currently in use as Dudley Registry Office, and has been based there since the office's relocation from a building in Ednam Road in about 1990.
Most of the people living in the council houses on the Priory Estate were rehoused from town centre slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
clearances. They were generally pleased with living in new houses which had running water
Tap water
Tap water is a principal component of "indoor plumbing", which became available in urban areas of the developed world during the last quarter of the 19th century, and common during the mid-20th century...
, electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
, indoor toilets
Plumbing
Plumbing is the system of pipes and drains installed in a building for the distribution of potable drinking water and the removal of waterborne wastes, and the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures in such systems. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping...
, bathrooms and gardens.
But the Priory Estate quickly ran into problems, with vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
, litter
Litter
Litter consists of waste products such as containers, papers, wrappers or faeces which have been disposed of without consent. Litter can also be used as a verb...
, graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
, vehicle crime
Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle...
, burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
and drug dealing becoming widespread, particularly on the north side of the estate, by the 1980s. The homes of elderly people were targeted most frequently; in 1991, a plank of wood was hurled through the window of a room in which a 90-year-old woman was sleeping.
The most famous former resident of the Priory Estate is Duncan Edwards
Duncan Edwards
Duncan Edwards was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the mid 1950s, and one of eight players who died as a result of the Munich air disaster.Born in Dudley,...
, who was born two miles away at Holly Hall but moved to 31 Elm Road as a small child and went on to play 18 times for England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
as well as winning two Football League championships with Manchester United before he died in 1958 at the age of 21 from injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster
Munich air disaster
The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the "Busby Babes",...
. As a child, he had attended Priory Primary School
Priory Primary School
Priory Primary School is a primary school located on the Priory Estate in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It includes a nursery unit, and is open to pupils aged from 3 to 11 years....
and then Wolverhampton Street School
Wolverhampton Street School
Wolverhampton Street School was a secondary school located in Dudley, Worcestershire , England.The school was opened in 1880 on Wolverhampton Street in the west of Dudley town centre, an area which was heavily developed for housing during the 19th century to accommodate workers drawn to the town as...
.
The estate was served by a secondary school from 1965, when Mons Hill School opened on Wrens Hill Road (running between the Priory and the neighbouring Wren's Nest Estate
Wren's Nest Estate
The Wren's Nest Estate is a housing estate located to the north west of the town centre of Dudley, West Midlands, England.-Housing development:...
) to replace Wolverhampton Street School. This school closed in 1990 due to falling pupil numbers, with the remaining pupils split between Castle High
Castle High School (Dudley)
For schools of the same name, see Castle High School.Castle High School is a secondary school located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It caters for pupils aged from 11 to 16 years. It is also a specialist Arts College.-The school:...
and Coseley School. The Mons Hill buildings then became part of Dudley College
Dudley College
Dudley College is a college of further education in Dudley, West Midlands, England.-History:In 1862 the Dudley Public Hall and Mechanics Institute was built. In 1896 this was expanded to become the Dudley Technical School, which became Dudley Technical College in 1926...
.
North Priory redevelopment
On March 2, 2006, a consultation firm employed by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council recommended the demolition of between 40 and 100 per cent of 260 homes on the northern part of the estate. The consultation firm had studied four scenarios. The first had been refurbishment of all the existing properties, many of which were currently in disrepair as well as being unsuitable for elderly and disabled occupants. But this scenario would not alter the estate's "isolated" position, highlighted by just two out of the six road links to the estate being accessible for vehicles. Nor would it make any difference to the narrow roads in the estate, one of which is now one-way. The second option had been 20% redevelopment along Pine Road, which would include refurbishment of the remaining properties but no major alterations to the road layout. The third option had been 40% redevelopment, which would have seen the demolition of all homes in Pine Road and Berry Road, as well as some in Thornhill Road. The fourth and final option was total redevelopment.The planned demolition was deemed necessary as most of the houses in this area were in a poor state of repair, with low demand for properties, a high demand for moves away from the area, and the environment has been plagued by vandalism, arson attacks, litter, graffiti and urban decay. The report also criticised the "isolated" layout of the estate, which is accessible from six points but only two of those points are accessible by motor vehicles. Most of the roads on the estate are relatively narrow (including one which is one-way) compared to roads on other parts of the Priory, which was less of a problem when the area was first developed – as virtually none of the local residents owned a car when the estate was built during the 1930s. The rising level of car ownership in recent years had led to many local residents parking their cars on pavements and even gardens, mainly due to the narrow streets.
Four properties on Pine Road had been demolished in the late 1990s due to mining subsidence, which also affected several other properties in the area, and another four properties on the road had been converted into community facilities.
The plans for total redevelopment were backed by council officials on December 4, 2006.
31 homes in North Priory had been bought from the council under the right to buy scheme
Right to buy scheme
The Right to buy scheme is a policy in the United Kingdom which gives tenants of council housing the right to buy the home they are living in. Currently, there is also a right to acquire for the tenants of housing associations...
.
The redevelopment of the estate will see a mixture of rented and privately-owned homes being built on the site, as well as the re-opening of the exit onto the Birmingham New Road via Castle Mill Road, which was closed in 1993 for road safety reasons. Some residents in the condemned area expressed concern that they would not be able to move back once the redevelopment was complete, as the rebuilt neighbourhood would include fewer rented homes than before and few of the current residents would be able to afford the new private houses.
The new-look North Priory, when completed, will include the shortening of Primrose Crescent with a public park on the south side and housing on the north side, the re-routing of Castle Mill Road at its most eastern point to join onto Pine Road, with defunct vehicle exit onto Birmingham New Road being re-instated, while Fern Road, Berry Road and Heather Road to be extended to join up with Pine Road. Heather Road and Berry Road will gain a vehicular link to Priory Road, while a residential square surrounding public gardens will be developed from current corner of Pine Road and Thornhill Road. There will also be a home-zone running parallel with Thornhill Road and joining up to form a crossroads at the current Forest Road junction.
A signalled crossroads may be erected on Birmingham New Road, also incorporating Woodcroft Avenue on the nearby Foxyards Estate.
Commercial units and flats to be built on site of current homes on Priory Road, between the junctions with Castle Mill Road and Fern Road.
Dudley council had hoped to complete the rehousing programme by Christmas 2008, but that deadline was missed and when the initial demolition work (on Pine Road) commenced in April 2009, one house on the estate remained occupied (on Berry Road). The final house was not vacated until nearly two months later. Demolition was completed in October 2009.
There has also been speculation that other parts of the Priory Estate are due for redevelopment once North Priory's regeneration is completed, but council officials have denied this; public spending cuts have meant that any regeneration in the area in the forseeable future will take place in the form of improvements to existing properties rather than their demolition and replacement.
When complete, the rebuilt North Priory estate is expected to consist of 329 homes, with an approximate 50:50 split between private and rented homes. There will be a more varied type of housing than before. The old North Priory estate consisted of 262 houses (built in the 1930s) with either two or three bedrooms and a block of four flats (built in 1974), but the new estate will also included bungalows as well as three-storey apartment blocks and townhouses. Construction of the new homes began in March 2011 and the first residents will move there later in the year.
Crime
In October 2003, arsonArson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
ists set fire to a pigeon loft
Pigeon keeping
Pigeon keeping is the art and science of breeding domestic pigeons. People have practiced pigeon keeping for about 10,000 years in almost every part of the world...
in the garden of a house in Linwood Road and killed nine pigeons. On another part of the estate, anti-social behaviour was creating so much trouble that one family gave an interview to the Express and Star regional newspaper openly criticising the local council for failing to respond to their demands for a transfer.
In March 2004, Dudley Registry Office (located in Priory Park) was set alight by arsonists. It took 100 firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
s a whole night to defeat the blaze.
Also in March 2004, a 90-year-old widow on the Estate criticised a judge for failing to hand out a prison sentence to the heroin addict and career criminal who broke into her house and stole £80 from her purse.
In April 2006, an arson attack caused severe damage to the Duncan Edwards public house in Priory Road. The pub had been refurbished just five years earlier and renamed in honour of Duncan Edwards, but had been closed a short time earlier in spite of its popularity in the local community. The building has since been demolished and plans have already been unveiled for the site to be developed for housing and retail, but construction work has yet to start.
The rehousing of North Priory residents in preparation for demolition resulted in empty properties being scoured by scrap metal dealers in the hope of finding items of value, despite council workers having already stripped these properties of tanks and copper piping. Most of the empty properties were vandalised in some way, while several were damaged in arson attacks.
The BNP Era
On 1 May 2003, the British National PartyBritish National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
gained a councillor in Castle and Priory (which includes the Priory Estate) in the council elections. The area had previously been controlled by three Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
councillors, and the successful BNP councillor representing Castle and Priory was Simon Darby
Simon Darby
Simon Darby is a British politician and former Deputy Chairman of the British National Party.-Background:By occupation a computer communications consultant, Darby began his political career in the National Democrats, most of whose activity was centred around his West Midlands base...
.
Mr Darby had gained 26.2% of the vote in Castle and Priory a year earlier, and in 2003 he gained a huge 45% of the vote. It was surprising that a BNP councillor had gained a seat in Castle and Priory, especially as the area is 97% white and the BNP are often popular among white people living in areas with high numbers of ethnic residents.
In 2003, Castle and Priory was the most deprived ward in the whole Dudley borough, and among the 7% most deprived wards in England. A number of asylum seekers had been housed on the Priory Estate, much to the dismay of many white British neighbours. Many of the local people were in favour of the BNP's desire to ban immigration to Britain to all foreigners barring white South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
ns and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
ans.
At the time, just 23 patriations of asylum seekers were living on and around the Priory Estate, but they were already attracting resentment from British neighbours because Dudley MBC had been providing furnishings, televisions and refrigerators for free to all asylum seekers living in the borough, and this was making them appear wealthier than British people.
Many local people also saw the BNP as the answer to the Priory Estate's many problems that were nothing to do with asylum seekers nor any other ethnic minorities. House repairs weren't being carried out efficiently, the local youth centre was rarely open and the estate office had closed - leaving many people (mostly pensioners) without cars to walk a long distance to pay their rent. There was also anger that the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
had spent millions of pounds on upgrading the neighbouring Wren's Nest Estate
Wren's Nest Estate
The Wren's Nest Estate is a housing estate located to the north west of the town centre of Dudley, West Midlands, England.-Housing development:...
(which traditionally had an even worse reputation than the Priory).
However, Simon Darby was not popular with voters once they had elected him. He lost his council seat the following year, and once again Castle and Priory is a Labour stronghold.
Public transport links
- Wolverhampton city centre (National Express West MidlandsNational Express West MidlandsNational Express West Midlands , formerly known as Travel West Midlands , is the trade name of West Midlands Travel Ltd , a company which operates bus services from depots in the cities of Birmingham, and Wolverhampton, as well as the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall in the West...
126, 525, 544, 581) - Birmingham city centre (National Express West Midlands 126)
- Dudley town centre (National Express West Midlands 125, 126, 206, 207, 283, 525, 544, 581)
- Coseley town centre (National Express West Midlands 125, 126, 525, 544, 581)
- Merry Hill Shopping Centre (National Express West Midlands 283)
- Wren's Nest estate (National Express West Midlands 206, 207, 544, 581)
- Netherton town centre (National Express West Midlands 283)
- Lodge Farm estate (National Express West Midlands 283)
- Bilston town centre (National Express West Midlands 525)
- Wednesfield town centre (National Express West Midlands 525)
- Willenhall town centre (National Express West Midlands 525)