Heath Town
Encyclopedia
Heath Town is a district of Wolverhampton
, West Midlands
, England
, located ENE of the city centre. It is also a ward of Wolverhampton City Council. The ward forms part of the Wolverhampton North East constituency.
Heath Town ward borders the wards of Bushbury South and Low Hill
, Fallings Park
, Wednesfield North
, Wednesfield South
, East Park and St Peter's
. As well as Heath Town, the ward covers parts of Park Village
and Wednesfield
. It is home to New Cross Hospital
(the city's main Hospital
), Wolverhampton Railway station, Heath Park Secondary school
and a Royal Mail
distribution centre.
Heath Town sprang up in the late 19th century, with many terraced
houses being built in the shadow of factories near the main road to Lichfield
.
In the late 1960s, Heath Town was almost totally redeveloped when the majority of the area's Victorian
terraces were bulldozed to make way for many blocks of council flats - between 4 and 22 storeys high. The new Heath Town estate was officially opened in April 1969 by Princess Margaret.
These flats were praised on their construction for having modern facilities which their predecessors lacked, but by the 1980s, Heath Town had become a notorious area ravaged by drugs
, prostitution
, race hate, vandalism
, graffiti
, anti-social behaviour
, car crime
and even several murders.
On 24 May 1989, up to 500 people rioted in the area following a police raid on a public house
where drug dealing had allegedly been taking place. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qx-2sMz4zyoC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=Heath+Town+riot+May+1989&source=bl&ots=SXsbp9l3We&sig=FM7MoSZRKgvXjYWyM3hnYiavyLk&hl=en&ei=gtyzSqijD4ue4gaZu4F9&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=Heath%20Town%20riot%20May%201989&f=false
Heath Town consists mostly of White British
residents, however, it has a large percentage of Asian
and Afro-Caribbean
residents who migrated to England during the 1950s and 1960s and originally settled in the Victorian terraced before relocating to the modern council flats.
In recent years the quality of life around Heath Town has improved with some flats being demolished while most of the remaining flats have been renovated. Community facilities and job opportunities have also been created, as well as new housing development for purchase and rent.
Previously, there was a primary school in Heath Town called Long Ley Primary School. The students there mostly went on to attend Wednesfield High School. It has since been closed down because of the shortage of council funding.
The main road through Heath Town is the A4124 Wednesfield Road, which runs westwards to Wolverhampton
and eastwards to Bloxwich
and eventually Brownhills
.
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, located ENE of the city centre. It is also a ward of Wolverhampton City Council. The ward forms part of the Wolverhampton North East constituency.
Heath Town ward borders the wards of Bushbury South and Low Hill
Bushbury South and Low Hill
Bushbury South and Low Hill is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands, England. It is situated to the north of the city centre, bordering the Bushbury North, Fallings Park, Heath Town, St Peter's and Oxley wards, and forms part of the Wolverhampton North East constituency.It contains...
, Fallings Park
Fallings Park
Fallings Park is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands and a ward of Wolverhampton City Council. It is situated in the north-east of the city, bordering South Staffordshire and the Wednesfield North, Heath Town, Bushbury South and Low Hill and Bushbury North wards. It forms part of the...
, Wednesfield North
Wednesfield North
Wednesfield North is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands. As the name suggests, it covers the northern parts of the town of Wednesfield. It borders the Wednesfield South, Heath Town and Fallings Park wards, as well as South Staffordshire and the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall...
, Wednesfield South
Wednesfield South
Wednesfield South is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, in the English county of West Midlands. It covers the southern and eastern parts of the town of Wednesfield, as well its town centre. It borders the East Park, Heath Town and Wednesfield North wards, as well as the Metropolitan Borough of...
, East Park and St Peter's
St Peter's ward, Wolverhampton
St Peter's is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands. It has two parts: the city centre , and the inner-city areas immediately to the north and north-west, including Dunstall Hill and part of Whitmore Reans.It is bordered by the wards of Bushbury South and Low Hill, Heath Town, East...
. As well as Heath Town, the ward covers parts of Park Village
Park Village
Park Village is an inner city area of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is situated in the north-east of the city on the A460 Cannock Road, which at that point is the border between the city council's Bushbury South and Low Hill and Heath Town wards....
and Wednesfield
Wednesfield
Wednesfield lies at , and is located to the northeast of Wolverhampton city centre on the northern fringe of the West Midlands conurbation...
. It is home to New Cross Hospital
New Cross Hospital
New Cross Hospital is a hospital in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is located to the east of the city centre in Wednesfield....
(the city's main Hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
), Wolverhampton Railway station, Heath Park Secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
and a Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
distribution centre.
Heath Town sprang up in the late 19th century, with many terraced
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
houses being built in the shadow of factories near the main road to Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
.
In the late 1960s, Heath Town was almost totally redeveloped when the majority of the area's Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
terraces were bulldozed to make way for many blocks of council flats - between 4 and 22 storeys high. The new Heath Town estate was officially opened in April 1969 by Princess Margaret.
These flats were praised on their construction for having modern facilities which their predecessors lacked, but by the 1980s, Heath Town had become a notorious area ravaged by drugs
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, race hate, vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
, graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
, anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that lacks consideration for others and that may cause damage to society, whether intentionally or through negligence, as opposed to pro-social behaviour, behaviour that helps or benefits society...
, car crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
and even several murders.
On 24 May 1989, up to 500 people rioted in the area following a police raid on a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
where drug dealing had allegedly been taking place. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qx-2sMz4zyoC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=Heath+Town+riot+May+1989&source=bl&ots=SXsbp9l3We&sig=FM7MoSZRKgvXjYWyM3hnYiavyLk&hl=en&ei=gtyzSqijD4ue4gaZu4F9&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=Heath%20Town%20riot%20May%201989&f=false
Heath Town consists mostly of White British
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
residents, however, it has a large percentage of Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
and Afro-Caribbean
British African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
residents who migrated to England during the 1950s and 1960s and originally settled in the Victorian terraced before relocating to the modern council flats.
In recent years the quality of life around Heath Town has improved with some flats being demolished while most of the remaining flats have been renovated. Community facilities and job opportunities have also been created, as well as new housing development for purchase and rent.
Previously, there was a primary school in Heath Town called Long Ley Primary School. The students there mostly went on to attend Wednesfield High School. It has since been closed down because of the shortage of council funding.
The main road through Heath Town is the A4124 Wednesfield Road, which runs westwards to Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
and eastwards to Bloxwich
Bloxwich
Bloxwich is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England, with a population of around 40,000 people.-Early history:Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as the Anglo-Saxon period, when the place name evidence suggests it was a small Mercian settlement named after the...
and eventually Brownhills
Brownhills
Brownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills...
.