Hyson Green Flats

Tony posted the comment below but is so meaty I thought I’d pop it as an item on its own. Cheers Tony.

The Hyson Green flats replaced some of the most awful slums in Nottingham. I remember the the old streets in the 1950’s were dreadful rows of filth, degradation and deprivation. Rats could be seen running around in broad daylight. However, the Hyson Green flats were just one of many attempts to improve the lives of those who lived in slums. There were also the Basford flats and the Balloon Wood flats. ALL of these housing developments had short lives and had to be destroyed due to the immense trouble they caused. The occupants were then moved to nicer areas with gardens and pleasant surroundings. I lived in one of the areas that took in these ex-flats migrants. It soon became quite obvious that it was not always the buildings that had created the problems, but the people who lived in them. Very soon these migrants from the flats were destroying the lovely areas to which they had been moved. (I am not saying that ALL of the people were like that; There are always decent people who get caught up in the system) But there were so many of these people who left their gardens untended and filled with them with rubbish and scrap cars etc., played loud music, let their offspring congregate in noisy gangs and generally had no regard for their neighbours. I knew several very nice people who lived in the Hyson Green flats, including ones from my own family, but it was “other residents” who made the place uninhabitable.

It is obvious that buildings can have a strong affect on our general feeling and well-being and people should not be herded into soul less concrete labyrinths. It is difficult to comprehend how anyone could have believed that the concrete jungle (Colditz, as it was often called), would be conducive to good social welfare, but it is ultimately the people that determine what an area will be like, not the buildings. Unfortunately the design of the flats and it’s numerous warrens, lent itself to abuse and gave easy opportunity for the growth of criminal activity, with its own unique problems for efficient policing.