'Our neighbourhood is so filthy you can see our rubbish on Google Maps'
A neighbourhood plagued by flytipping is so filthy that rubbish piles are visible on Google Maps.
Overlooked by towering multi-million pound skyscrapers being built is Newtown. This forgotten part of Birmingham, particularly the shopping centre, feels worlds apart from the city centre - and residents fear things will only get worse.
“It’s [rubbish] round ‘ere, bruv,” one young lad said, while a woman doing her shopping simply said: “It’s OK. We’ve lived here a long time and nothing has changed - things are just getting worse.”
It seems everything is closing down - the swimming baths and community centre, as well as The Drum arts centre shut for good.
Mum of three Lucy Hayward, with her six-month-old daughter on her back, moved to the area in 2015. She shares a two-bedroom house with her three kids - six months, three and five - and husband.
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“It just feels like we’ve been so forgotten,” she told Birmingham Live, of life living here in Newtown, walking with a mobility cane, as she is blind, through heaps of rubbish.
“We’re so near the centre of town and, yet, if you look around it’s dire. You just look at this. There’s a lot of families squeezed into two-bed houses.
A used needle just yards away from the shopping centre in Newtown (BirminghamMail/ WS)“It’s the rubbish [mainly], especially here on Alma Street. I’ve even been bitten on my leg from something due to the rubbish. I obviously couldn’t see what it was but I was just walking and something attacked my leg.
"What else can I tell you… there’s no community centre for kids and nothing [for children] in the local area. The swimming baths have been closed for years now and we have to go to Ladywood.
“You just look at all of these areas that are boarded up and I just think they could be used to provide kids with somewhere to go. There’s all these spaces that could be used for stuff.”
Newtown remains one of Birmingham’s crime hotspots with 473 crimes reported in the ward alone in the month of May. Of those, reports of violence and sexual offences came out on top (192) ahead of anti-social behaviour (46) and theft (40).
Speaking from inside the depressing, overgrown and littered-with-rubbish Yellow Park, Lucy, 35, added: “This area was known for gang culture a few years ago and that’s still going on and it’s one of the reasons I want to move. We’ve had a lot of knock-and-runs and my neighbours have had some really nasty incidents; kids coming to their door knocking and being aggressive and things. There’s no police presence whatsoever. We’re just forgotten.
Rubbish strewn across the paths in Yellow Park (BirminghamMail/ WS)“There’s real issues with the buses as well. You can be waiting up to an hour on some days. It depends. I mean I could walk but there’s a lot of older people who can’t physically do that. It’s ridiculous.
“Like I’ve said, we feel very left behind on this side of town. It’s access to things. I can shout out and ask for help but a lot of people will struggle to do that.
"My children are very friendly and the community is lovely here and tight-knit and, if there’s an issue, everybody’s out but there’s a lot of things here that need sorting. I am worried about my children and who they might talk to and who they might come into contact with. I get nervous whenever I go out.”
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Nearby Ladywood is undergoing a huge £2.2billion transformation - new homes, community facilities, schools, parks and travel routes. But for Newtown, much remains the same.
Amongst the sheer amount of litter on the floor and streets were discarded needles, drug bags and countless empty bottles of gin and brandy.
Residents fear the state of the area is devaluing their homes (BirminghamMail/ WS)At a local ward meeting, residents expressed their frustration. Matt Bond, who lives with his family of six in Melbourne Avenue, said: “The surrounding area, with all the flytipping that’s going on, is devaluing my property.
"This is the frustration. It’s communication. We’ve been there for 20-odd years and still we can’t get nothing done.
“People are dumping stuff down the alleyways and all sorts. What is in these people’s minds?
“I don’t know if you’ve ever gone on Google Maps and Googled our area from an aerial point of view. It looks like a waste ground, it really does. It’s absolutely disgusting. It’s embarrassing.”
Another resident, Valerie Simpson, intervened and said: “They’re not even emptying the bins, they’re just overflowing. The bins aren’t being emptied at all. There’s rubbish everywhere.”
Dad Matt, meanwhile, fumed: “It’s quite simple. It’s a simple solution to what’s been going on now for the last 10 to 15 years - we need a waste management system and there’s people willing to help and do a job; people who live in and care for the area.
Newtown remains one of Birmingham’s crime hotspots with 473 crimes reported in the ward alone in the month of Ma (BirminghamMail/ WS)“Seriously… I’m in construction and I go to housing developments all day long and there’s nothing like this. Just go on Google Maps and take a look - it’s embarrassing. We have to create a solution to the problem and when we tidy the area up and make it look nice, it gives people that good vibe and good feeling so that’s what we need.
“This is Newtown and we’ve got to make Newtown our town and it’s everyone’s town because everyone passes through Newtown to get in and out of town. There’s residents who are willing to stand, fight and care for their community. It’s simple.
"It’s about time the council stood up and came together to find a solution which is simple: a waste management substation. Simple. And there’s guys out there who are willing to work."
Community champion Valerie, meanwhile, added: “We live here and we live around this squalor. There’s fly tipping everywhere and it’s the first thing I speak about every month at the meetings and nothing is happening about it. Yet we’ve got money here and we can’t put that to good use? We want the place tidied up.”
Valerie added: “The rubbish is no better and it’s getting worse, especially on Porchester Drive. It’s an eyesore. It’s frustrating and, as soon as I report something to be cleared away, there’s already something else. It’s never ending.
“The bins aren’t being emptied in Newtown shopping centre and the park is also very messy. I want to see Newtown on the map for the right reasons and not the wrong reasons. Another thing as well, I came to Newtown shopping centre on Sunday morning to get some money from the bank and the amount of yobs outside smoking, drinking and loud music. It’s off putting and that was Sunday morning.
“You know… I want to go to Newtown and do my shopping but I don’t want to be intimidated by all these people sitting there smoking, drinking and bringing the place down so something has to be done. It’s not acceptable.”
In response to residents’ complaints surrounding rubbish, fly-tipping and all-round unhappiness at living conditions in Newtown, councillor Ziaul Islam signed off by saying: “I am aware of all the problems surrounding fly-tipping and the rubbish on our streets and I am working with the authorities to put a stop to it.
"I am doing my best but it’s the same across several parts of the city. I am also fighting to restore the community centre and I will be in dialogue with the council leader, John Cotton.”
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