Priory Estate

The Priory Estate is a housing estate in Dudley, West Midlands, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the 1930s.

History of the estate

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 Sedgley Urban District. The borders were moved back several hundred yards in 1926 when Dudley Council purchased the land with a view to building council houses. The first house was 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-occupiers built at the south side of the estate near Priory Park. Three public houses served the estate: the Wren's Nest in Priory Road, the King Arthur on the corner of Birmingham New Road, and the Caves in Wrens Hill Road.

Priory Park was laid out in 1932, incorporating the Priory Ruins as well as Priory Hall (former home of Sir Gilbert Claughton). Priory Hall is currently in use as Dudley Registery 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 around Thornhill Road. 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 grew up in Elm Road 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.

North Priory redevelopment plans

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. [ [http://www.expressandstar.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=33&num=87576 Demolition fears over homes] ]

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 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.

The plans for total redevelopment were backed by council officials on December 4, 2006.

More than 30 homes in North Priory had been bought off 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 the early 1990s 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 re-routing of Thornhill Road to join up with Forest Road at the southern side, 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.

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.

The increasing number of vacant households around North Priory has resulted in an escalation of the area's already serious problem with criminal damage. A Renault Clio parked on the driveway of an empty property on Priory Road was set alight in early October 2007. There has also been extensive vandalism and several arson attacks on empty properties in the area.

By September 2008, around 90% of the properties had been vacated, and the council is hoping to complete the rehousing programme in December 2008.

Demolition of the old properties is expected to start in March 2009 and 329 homes to be completed by the end of 2012. Bromford Housing Group will be responsible for developing the new homes. [http://www.dudleynews.co.uk/news/dnnewsroundup/display.var.2040468.0.major_step_forward_in_north_priory_project.php]

Pictured above are some of the condemned North Priory homes, on Heather Road, shown in early 2008.

Crime on the Priory Estate

In October 2003, arsonists set fire to a pigeon loft in the garden of a house in Linwood Road and killed nine pigeons. [Express and Star: [http://www.expressandstar.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=9&num=43661 Pigeons killed as loft set alight] ] 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. [Express and Star: [http://www.expressandstar.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=18&num=44400 Family appeal over gang plague] ]

In March 2004, Dudley Registry Office (located in Priory Park) was set alight by arsonists. It took 100 firefighters a whole night to defeat the blaze. [cite news | work=icBirmingham | url=http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/eveningmail/news/tm_objectid=14215947%26method=full%26siteid=50002-name_page.html | title=Arson Attack Chaos | last=Deeley | first=Anthony | date=2004-05-06 | accessdate=2008-04-06 | publisher=Midland Newspapers]

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. [Express and Star: [http://www.expressandstar.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=19&num=55154 Widow's fury as burglar walks free] ]

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. [cite news | work=The Black Country | url=http://archive.thisistheblackcountry.co.uk/2006/5/5/76562.html | title=Landmark Wrecked | date=2006-05-05 | accessdate=2008-04-06 | publisher=Newsquest Media Group] 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 BNP Era

On 1 May, 2003, the British National Party 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 Africans and Zimbabweans.

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 wasn't 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. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,946127,00.html The Guardian] ]

Public transport links

* Wolverhampton city centre (National Express West Midlands 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)

References