Think about it!
These case studies are all about how the social welfare (well being of the people) of populations is influenced by where they live within a settlement. The characteristics of a settlement area affects the environment in which people live and hence their lifestyles, and local governments have to respond to any issues that result. These case studies focus
on Scotswood (Inner city ward currently undergoing regeneration of its brownfield sites) and Castle Ward (rural/urban fringe in the Greenbelt on Greenfield sites). These are 2 very different settlements within Newcastle Upon Tyne, a city which has transformed itself from a ship building city to a Science City in recent years
Background to the areas
Scotswood
This is an old industrial area of West Newcastle that has been in serious decline since the loss of secondary armament and engineering jobs in the 1960s and 1970s. There area has suffered serious decline, dereliction of buildings, seriously low academic attainment and unemployment higher than the city wide average
Castle Ward
This area includes North Gosforth and Newcastle Great Park, a new high tech industrial and housing estate in the greenbelt of Newcastle designed to create employment.
Census 2001 and field visit revealed that;
Overall environmental quality scores that we took were far higher for Castle ward than Scotswood, indicating a much better environment with less litter, graffiti, wasteland etc.
Building quality surveys also showed that there were more problems with paint peeling, broken windows, tiles missing, unkempt gardens etc in the buildings in Scotswood than in
Castle Ward.
There are more services in Scotswood than in Castle Ward
The census 2001 shows that;
1. In Scotswood 25% are listed as having a limiting long term illness whereas in Castle ward it is only 17%
2. In Scotswood the median age is 36 whereas in Castle ward it is 40
3. In Scotswood there are higher %s of Pakistani, Indian and Bagladeshi populations.
4. In Scotswood 20% of the population are on benefits or unemployed whereas in Castle ward it is only 11%
5. In Scotswood 7% are in higher managerial posts whereas in Castle ward it is 23%
6. In Scotswood 50% have NO qualifications, whereas in Castle ward it is 25%
7. In Scotswood 3X more people rent from the council
Management of Implications for Social welfare
1. John Marley centre – opened by the WECC to encourage community cohesion and improve education standards in the West end
2. Excelsior academy – a brand new school with state of the art facilities has been built to raise academic standards
3. £265 million redevelopment project in West End – creating 1,800 high quality, eco-friendly family homes with new neighbourhood and commercial facilities, parks and public open spaces over the next 15 years.
4. Few services for people in NGP and Castle ward – apart from a shop an the new primary school little else is in the offing
5. A new primary school for NGP – to limit the impact of children from NGP on neighbouring primary schools
6. Cycle lanes and bus routes for NGP
7. A local shop has opened in the NGP estate – probably too limited to satisfy all demands so locals are tied to their cars
8. Landscaping in NGP – for recreation and drainage issues (there are reed beds and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS))
9. Employment – the new redevelopment in Scotswood will create construction jobs and there are plans for commercial premises as well. NGP created 3 new businesses including software firm Sage with over 1,000 jobs
Despite this there are many unresolved issues including the poor service provision in NGP and Castle Ward, and huge deprivation in Scotswood