Hillfields Action group set to start area’s fightback
IT has a reputation throughout Bristol, the lowest house prices in the city and some parts are among its statistically most deprived.
But now the residents of Hillfields, the corner of BS16 that even those who live there say ‘feels forgotten,’ are launching a fightback – and it is one that sends shivers down the spine of council officials, politicians, landlords and lettings agencies across Bristol.
The community union ACORN is launching a local action group in Hillfields. Its organisers, who live locally, are holding a meeting this week to start it up and are appealing to people to go along and get involved.
The union is perhaps best known for its work campaigning on bad housing, against slum landlords and letting agencies. Members in trouble – being evicted, or suffering from housing issues – can summon a large number of other members in their distinctive red tee-shirts to lobby and harangue those in positions of power.
In recent months, ACORN in Bristol has widened its attention to people in council properties, and has launched community groups in specific areas where there might be different priorities and issues that local people want addressing.
In Lockleaze, for example, the ACORN group of residents there has been lobbying hard on the state of the roads and the issue of speeding motorists and ratruns, while ACORN’s Bedminster group has targeted letting agencies encouraging rent hikes.
In Hillfields, things will be different again. The estate is still largely council-owned, with homes dating back 100 years – it was one of the first council estates built in Bristol.
Back in 2019, to mark the centenary of the first house being built on the Hillfields estate, one grandmother said that despite its reputation, the community was friendly and tight-knit, with a well-used park.
“It’s very good, we always come here,” she said. “It feels safe, and lots of families come. It’s always well used.”
In May, new statistics showed that Hillfields had some of the lowest property prices in Bristol, with one family home selling for just £130,000 earlier this year.
Katie Hanchard-Goodwin, the senior manager of the community hub in the area, said it was likely that housing was so cheap because there was not as much investment in Hillfields as there was in other areas of Bristol.
“It’s cheap, but there’s a reason it’s cheap. It’s a deprived area, there’s not a lot of resources up here. It’s forgotten in a lot of things, much like Hartcliffe. We’ve got a library that a lot of people don’t even know is there – people regularly say ‘I didn’t know it was here,’” she said.
The 45-year-old added that while there was much to be positive about in the area, and it was a diverse place with a strong sense of community, she did not feel there had been enough investment in it, which may have kept house prices low. And at the same time, she said many people perhaps did not even realise that Hillfields existed.
“There’s no reason to come here probably unless you live here,” she added. “The community centre and the library serve the community but there’s nothing here to come to. You don’t have a supermarket, a doctors’ surgery. You might go along the main road just to cut through to Cossham Hospital, but you won’t come here unless there was a reason.”
ACORN said they were keen to get to work on the specific issues people in Hillfields felt were important.
Recently, one council tenant told how she spent six years trying to get the council to sort out the mystery of why her home was so cold – despite having the heating on full blast – but within a couple of weeks of joining ACORN and her fellow members getting on the case, the council agreed to a full programme of works to properly insulate her home and deal with the kind of building issues that afflict many 100-year-old council homes there.
The launch meeting is taking place at the Community Hub in Hillfields Park, and already members in the area have a list of possible things the union can get stuck into – bad lighting in the streets and parks, dog poo, litter and difficult-to-access community services, for example.
The meeting is on Thursday from 6.30pm. All are welcome to attend, including children.
It’s a deprived area, there’s not a lot of resources up here. It’s forgotten in a lot of things
Katie Hanchard-Goodwin