It came as no shock on watching Channel 4’s ‘Best and worst places to live in the UK’ that my home town of Mansfield reared it’s ugly head at No.6 in the Uk’s worst. Nottingham came in at No.2 which I didn’t expect but with the recent crime increase I thought it may possibly gain a mention. The show was based on statistics taken from over 400 and something constituencies in the UK, including crime, education, employment, housing, standard of living (parks etc) and entertainment.
Sat there watching it I didn’t feel the urge to challenge the comments about my home town as the presenters highlighted crime, the huge amount of cctv camera’s we have and other unsavoury issues here. Mansfield is infamous for handing out an ASBO (anti social behaviour order) to the youngest offender in the country aged only 13. The programme did highlight some of the better points of the town but not in any great detail, apart from cheap housing.
Sat there watching it I didn’t feel the urge to challenge the comments about my home town as the presenters highlighted crime, the huge amount of cctv camera’s we have and other unsavoury issues here. Mansfield is infamous for handing out an ASBO (anti social behaviour order) to the youngest offender in the country aged only 13. The programme did highlight some of the better points of the town but not in any great detail, apart from cheap housing.
Personally speaking I’m no fan of the town I live in, though I was once very much in love with it. At one time there were the mines, factories and the local brewery that provided a lot of income and jobs for the town but they have all gone to be replaced by retail units or shops forcing Mansfield to face a transition of sorts. It’s not the people of my town I dislike, though some I dislike intensely for their insular attitudes (and no, I don’t mean my workmates, though they can be insular I don’t hate them). Basically Mansfield isn’t the great town it once was, it’s not the people that I blame but perhaps the powers that be, which leave unused factories to stand and wasteland undeveloped. It seems we have a local authority that isn’t in tune with what the town really needs or what the town could indeed become. I also blame the local police for seemingly avoiding some areas of the town, this only lets crime fester and breed. A friend of mine that works for the local police told me that usually there’s only 2 police cars on patrol in the town at any one time, a fact that alarmed me considerably. It seems that the government already thinks this area is over staffed when local police expressed concern about levels of policing here.
In the future I hope Mansfield becomes what it once was again, a bustling market town with character with great night life and better prospects for all but for this to happen it needs rejuvenation and re-development and for the local authority to open their eyes and see the bigger picture and not just brag about things it ‘may’ have planned for the future, empty promises that never happen such as retail, town developments and theme parks!
Anyway for a full list of the best and worst places to live in the UK check out the Channel 4 website below;
The youngest ever ASBO story I mentioned can be found on the link below;
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