I went to Britain’s worst place to reside – one factor shocked me | UK | News | EUROtoday

It’s a chilly and moist day within the Bedfordshire city that has been branded yr after yr as one of many worst locations to reside in Britain. But visiting this beleaguered city simply north of London reveals a group determined for funding, and divided about whether or not or not a multi-billion pound regeneration mission can flip issues round.

The Daily Express travelled to Luton to listen to for ourselves locals’ grave considerations over crime, medication and an absence of jobs. What we discovered was a story of two Lutons, residents battling crime and joblessness alongside council chiefs optimistic that the city is lastly getting the funding it wants after years of neglect.

Robert Brodie, a lifelong resident, summed up the frustration felt by many when he advised us: “We need to see more money going into the right places.” Standing exterior one of many purchasing centres within the coronary heart of the city, he spoke concerning the crime ranges within the space, explaining “they’ve got security outside Greggs now” to cease folks robbing the bakery.

Retired himself, he complained {that a} lack of jobs within the space was leaving folks feeling left behind. No alternatives, Mr Brodie argued, meant that individuals simply would not transfer to the realm anymore, locking the place into decline. Edmund Dohwe, 43, was much more blunt about how residents really feel. “We feel abandoned,” he mentioned, sitting in his storage on a housing property. “Since the plant closed [Vauxhall’s van-making plant closed last April] there are no jobs.”

Mr Dohwe, considerably poetically, likened the city to a plant – “if you do not water it, it dies”.

Another lady from the property, who wouldn’t give her identify, painted an excellent bleaker image. “There’s just so much crime, it feels hopeless,” she mentioned. She tells us she not feels secure strolling the property at evening, and wouldn’t enable her children to take action alone.

But native Labour councillor James Taylor, who oversees the city’s formidable improvement plan, hit again at critics. “I’m sick of people talking the place down,” he mentioned. “Luton has its problems, sure, but finally we have the investment we need to get it back on its feet. We’ve had 14 years of underinvestment from the Tories. Now we have more than a billion to reinvest in the town.”

The funding Cllr Taylor refers to is staggering in scale.

Luton Council has drawn up a Town Centre Masterplan to information how the realm will change over the following 20 to 30 years, responding to shifts in how folks reside, socialise, store and work. Changes are already underway, and the works may be seen throughout the city. At Hat Gardens, the River Lea has been opened up, making a spot the place the council has held occasions year-round, together with an open-air cinema screening reside sport and movies.

Construction has additionally began at Power Court, which is to function the brand new residence of Luton Town Football Club. The improvement will see a 25,000-capacity stadium constructed alongside a lodge, music venue, and extra public areas.

It’ll additionally see some 1,200 new flats constructed, and a variety of recent outlets. In whole some £1.7billion of private and non-private funding has been promised to revitalise a city that has consistently appeared on lists – and even on the prime of lists – of the worst locations to reside within the UK.

And the native authority insists it’s taking motion on crime. In 2024 it arrange a Town Centre Task Force, which companions with native charities and the police to cut back felony exercise. But whether or not these formidable plans can overcome many years of decline and rekindle the satisfaction to a city that feels forgotten stays to be seen.

For residents like Robert Brodie and Edmund Dohwe, the proof can be within the supply. Security guards exterior Greggs and empty factories inform their very own story concerning the challenges forward. The query is whether or not Luton’s multi-billion pound regeneration can bridge the hole between council optimism and resident despair – or whether or not this can be one other false daybreak for one among Britain’s struggling cities.