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| Wythenshawe | |
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  Wythenshawe shown within Greater Manchester |
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| Population | 66,267 (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan borough | City of Manchester |
| Metropolitan county | Greater Manchester |
| Region | North West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M22, M23 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| European Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | Wythenshawe and Sale East |
| List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester | |
Wythenshawe (pop. 66,000) is a district in the south of the City of Manchester in North West England.
Until 1931 the district formed a part of the administrative county of Cheshire. Wythenshawe, with an area of about 11 square miles, has often been referred to as one of the largest council housing estates in Europe,1 although now a significant proportion of the estate is privately owned housing. The district comprises nine areas: Baguley, Benchill, Peel Hall, Newall Green, Woodhouse Park, Moss Nook, Sharston, Northern Moor and Northenden.
The boundaries of these nine areas have been continuously changed throughout the district's history, and previously known areas such as Brownley Green and Crossacres have since been assimilated into one of the nine areas listed above, though many residents still refer to them by name.
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History
The name of Wythenshawe (pronounced /ˈwɪðənʃɔː/) seems to come from the Old English wiðign = "withy tree" and sceaga = "wood" (compare dialectal word shaw). This name originally referred only to Wythenshawe Hall or its site.
For many centuries the Tatton family owned Wythenshawe Hall and much land in what is now Wythenshawe. Manchester Corporation, who were in desperate need of land to house the city's rapidly increasing population, pressured Mr Tatton to part with the land in 1926. What was once farmland was transformed into one of the largest housing estates in Europe. Wythenshawe and Sale East is now a parliamentary constituency with five wards in Manchester and three in Trafford.
Immediately south of Wythenshawe is Manchester Airport, formerly called Ringway Airport. Before Manchester's Barton and Ringway Airports were laid out, three farm fields lying between Rackhouse Road and Wythenshawe Road in what is now the north edge of Wythenshawe were used as Manchester (Wythenshawe) Aerodrome. This was the UK's first municipal airfield, operating between April 1929 and early 1930. A converted barn acted as the hangar and a farmhouse as the administration building. Temporary fuel pumps were installed.
Society and Housing History
Wythenshawe is Manchester's largest district, a massive housing estate that was created in the 1920's as a so-called "Garden City" where an overspill population could be rehoused away from the slums and squalor of industrial Manchester.
The upheaval and resettlement of such large numbers of people from all the different communities took little account of social cohesion or community spirit, neither of which existed, so that by the late 20th century Wythenshawe suffered many social problems. First, the estate was built initially without shops, amenities or services, and second there was very little employment directly to hand (except the Timpsons Shoe Factory on Altrincham Road). Various Residents Associations were set up to address these problems, and progress was very slow. The building of nearby Sharston Industrial Estate somewhat improved matters, as did the later Moss Nook and Roundthorn Industrial complexes, and over the years, the experiment that was Wythenshawe has gradually settled down to a degree of peace and normality.
Wythenshawe gradually acquired all the amenities and facilities that the early planners forgot, including its schools, shops, pubs and churches. Nowadays it has the Wythenshawe Forum, a major venue for dramatic, theatrical and musical events. It also got its own hospital, and Wythenshawe Hospital grew out of the earlier Baguley Hospital after the war in 1948.
Housing legislation in Britain began with the Artisans’ Dwellings Act of 1875, which gave powers to local councils to condemn properties and clear slums within their boundaries. The Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 strengthened earlier acts and encouraged local councils to undertake housing improvement schemes. Under an act of 1919, the government offered a subsidy for houses built by a local council for rent. Individuals who provided housing include George Peabody, who set up the Peabody Trust to build homes for the poor in the Spitalfields district of London, and Octavia Hill (founder of the present-day Housing Corporation), whose housing scheme enabled the lease of homes to poor people in Marylebone. Factory owners also built homes for their workers, such as Titus Salt (the model town of Saltaire), William Hesketh Lever (the garden village of Port Sunlight), and George Cadbury (the garden village of Bournville).
Housing Acts
1909 Town Planning Act: this act forbade the building of any more back-to-back houses – these had become almost symbolic of the poverty of industrial cities. Local authorities had to prepare schemes of town planning. Builders were now obligated to build homes to certain standards.
1919 Housing Act: this act attempted to provide "homes fit for heroes to live in". Local authorities were required to provide schemes on how they would achieve this in working class areas. Central government gave financial help for this between 1919 to 1923.
1930 Housing Act: this act introduced a five year programme for the clearance of slums in towns with designated Improvement Areas. Local authorities were forced to provide housing for those who lost their homes during slum clearance.
Tenant Activism
19th CENTURY Tenants organisations protest against high rents imposed by private landlords. A rent strike in London's East End helps win the Dockers Strike of 1891. Mining and agricultural trade unions campaign around housing issues. Socialist and labour movement groups organise tenant action against high rent and rates and in favour of municipal housing. Private landlords and charitable trusts were the target of tenant action.
1912 - 1915 Tenants organise a wave of rent strikes across the country against high rents. The Labour Party leads the protests in a campaign for public housing. The outbreak of war in 1914, and the sudden migration of thousands of workers into munitions districts in Glasgow, intensified pressure on available housing. Many landlords saw this as an ideal opportunity to increase rents, which quickly led to increased hardship for many working class households led by women. The protests end in the Glasgow rent strike of 1915 which leads to the freezing of private sector rents.
AFTER 1918 Council house building takes off. Tenants associations formed on the new estates, often campaigning against high rents and calling for representation for tenants in housing issues.
1920 - 1930 Tenants associations form city federations. National Tenants Federation formed. TAs campaign for community facilities and organise community activities.
1934 Leeds tenants federation leads a rent strike against the divisive first rent rebate scheme.
LATE 1930s Unemployed workers' organisations campaign on housing issues, with rent strikes and action against evictions. Rent strike in London against high rents.
1945 - 1946 Over 40,000 families occupy former army camps and empty homes from Yorkshire to the South Coast in a wave of squatting. Squatters groups form federations. A major house building programme is launched.
1940s Tenants associations develop on the new council estates and new towns. National Association of Tenants & Residents formed (NATR) in 1948.
1950s Glasgow tenants campaign against rent increases and sell-offs.
1960 St Pancras rent strike against market rents. Other London tenants groups go on rent strike against private "Rachmanite" landlords.
1968 National demonstration of tenants in Trafalgar Square against rent increases.
1968 - 1973 Wave of tenant activity with rent strikes and new organisations set up. Stockport Rent Strike - Riot Act read out by Mayor. National Association of Tenants & Residents organises protests against the 1972 Housing Finance Act with its "fair" rents and rebates. Rent strikes and tenant protests across the country.
1975 - 1976 Estimates of 10,000 to 50,000 organised squatters living in abandoned private and public housing. Housing is a major issue for the "underground press". Housing co-operatives formed. Homeless Persons Act (1977) passed after long campaigns about homelessness.
LATE 1970s National Tenants Organisation (NTO) formed along with tenants organisations in Scotland and Wales. Security of tenure for council tenants included in Labour Housing Bill. Community workers supporting tenants groups. Tenants Charters negotiated in some areas. Anti-damp campaigns and other tenant protest around high-rise and system-built housing. 1980's Conservative government brings in secure tenancy and the Right to Buy. Tenants organisations go into decline. 'Tenant Participation Advisory Service' (TPAS) formed by Government to assist council tenants.
1988 Flood of tenant protests against Tenants Choice legislation. Anti-sell off and anti-Housing Action Trust protests lead to formation of new tenants organisations. Strong tenants federations (e.g. Sandwell and Kirklees) and tenant management organisations (e.g. Belle Isle North in Leeds) developed.
1989 National Tenants & Residents Federation (NTRF) set up.
1992 Mass tenant rallies against compulsory competitive tendering of housing management.
1997 Tenant demonstrations against Conservative plans to speed up transfers.
1998 Tenants & Residents Organisation of England (TAROE) formed from merger of NTRF and NTO.
1999 TAROE links with the trade union-led Defend Council Housing group to campaign against transfers. It also launches the Daylight Robbery campaign against subsidy claw-back.
2000 - PRESENT Tenant Participation Compacts come into force insisting councils support and consult tenants organisations (a ‘compact’ is a ‘non-binding agreement’). Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) allows local authorities to ‘sell off’ under-invested public assets (council houses and land) to ‘not-for-profit’ Organisations (Housing Associations). Arm's Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) introduced as alternative to increasingly unpopular LSVT, allowing councils to retain their social housing stock under a more professional regime. Executive salaries treble.
Governance
The area used to comprise its own parliamentary constituency, having been Manchester Wythenshawe since the 1960s and represented by Alf Morris of the Labour Party. Prior to the 1997 election, the boundaries were redrawn and part of the neighbouring area of Sale included in the seat. The constituency is now called Wythenshawe and Sale East. In the same year, Alf Morris stepped down and was replaced by Paul Goggins. It is still a safe Labour seat.
At the time of the 2001 UK Census Wythenshawe was divided into six local government wards: Baguley, Benchill, Brooklands, Northenden, Sharston, and Woodhouse Park. Each ward was represented by three local councillors, giving Wythenshawe 18 of the 99 seats on Manchester City Council. Following a review by the Boundary Committee for England published in 2003, the ward of Benchill was abolished, and its former territory was divided between the wards of Northenden, Sharston, and Woodhouse Park.2
Wythenshawe typically returns all Labour councillors in local elections, although in the 2008 elections the Lib Dems gained a seat in Northenden.
Geography
Wythenshawe is situated approximately 8 miles (13 km) south of Manchester City Centre and is the southernmost district within the City Of Manchester boundary.
The district falls under the authority of Manchester City Council.
In the media
Wythenshawe is the outdoor filming location for the Channel 4 series Shameless, which shows various shots of the local tower-blocks, housing estates, and other architecture unique to this area. Wythenshawe also housed the outdoor sets for the show, which were built on private property. Production moved from Miles Platting and Ancoats in early 2007, following disruptions to filming caused by local youths.
Economy
Many houses previously owned by the council are now under the control of local housing associations, such as Willow Park in Benchill. Responsibility for the housing stock continues to be transferred from the local council to housing associations in other areas of Wythenshawe as well. The housing associations have invested a great deal into the area and have improved the quality of the local housing stock.citation needed
Several greenfield and greyfield sites have been opened up to developers and there are a great deal of new housing developments within the town.
The town centre was renovated between 1999 and 2002, to include new stores and other new features. The main street now features gates that are locked at night to prevent the vandalism that was seen in previous years. The tunnel going between the multi-storey car park and the large supermarket building now features a mosaic displaying various aspects of the town. The Forum centre, which houses a library, leisure centre and other amenities, has also been renovated in a more youth-centric, modern style. In 2007 further redevelopment continued when ASDA opened a new superstore with multi-storey car parking on the site of the old Co-operative store.
Notable people
- Caroline Aherne - Actress, Mrs Merton and The Royle Family
- Edmund "Ed Banger" Garrity - Singer, Ed Banger and The Nosebleeds
- Eddie Large - Comedian, Little and Large comedy duo
- Nicholas Cochrane - Actor, Coronation Street
- Harry H Corbett - Actor, star of Steptoe and Son
- Jamie Draven - Actor, Ultimate Force, Billy Elliott, Messiah, Mobile (TV series)
- Lewis McKenzie - Actor, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
- Lorraine Cheshire - Actress, Early Doors, Life on Mars, Tittybangbang, Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise
- Melissa Porter - Television Presenter, To Buy or Not to Buy, Escape to the Country
- Simon Gregson - Actor, Coronation Street
- Johnny Marr - Guitarist, The Smiths
- Jason Orange - Singer, Take That
- Lyn Paul - Singer, New Seekers
- Paul Young - Singer, Sad Café, Mike & the Mechanics
- Vini Reilly, Singer and guitarist with The Durutti Column
- Kirsty Howard, most notable for her charity work. Founder of the Kirsty Appeal
- Doreen Massey, geographer, author of 'Living in Wythenshawe' in The Unknown City, Contesting Architecture and Social Space (ISBN 0262024713)
- Andrew L.P Ellis - Actor, This Is England, Heartbeat
References
- ^ Derick Deakin. "History of the Estate". Wythit. Retrieved on 30 September, 2006.
- ^ Draft recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Manchester, The Electoral Commission, February 2003, http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/file/0004/6538/Manchester_D_8002-7032__E__.pdf, retrieved on 16 September 2008
External links
- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/world/europe/10britain.html NY Times article about Wythenshawe youth.
- http://www.wfmradio.org/ Wythenshawe FM Community Radio Station
- http://www.wythit-heritagetrail.btik.com/ The Wythenshawe Heritage Trail
- http://www.wythenshaweforum.co.uk/forum_centre.asp
- http://www.wythit.com/Local_Activities/Local_History/
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 14 November 2008, at 05:35.
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