ESTATE’S REVAMP BRINGING RESIDENTS HOPE BRINGING AND FEAR
A declining city estate is on the verge of one of Wales’ newest multi-million-pound regenerations – but what do its residents think? Ryan O’Neill went along to find out...
IT’S lunchtime on a weekday in Ringland shopping centre, about four miles from Newport city centre, and it’s almost empty. The pharmacy, fruit and veg shop, chip shop and butchers are open, but most others in the shopping complex are shuttered.
Dozens of flats which were once occupied above are long since boarded up, their paintwork faded and moss growing on the walls.
One of the few sign of life comes from the row of pigeons perched serenely at the top of the mostly shuttered complex, with views across the estate.
In a few months Ringland’s main shopping hub will be no more, with the existing shops and flats to be knocked down and a new shopping centre built across the road as part of a £24m regeneration plan.
First submitted by Newport City Homes in November 2017, the proposals include building more than 180 houses on the site of the current shopping centre and Mountbatten.
Newport City Homes is in the process of appointing a contractor and is due to give an update to residents in the coming weeks.
In January, permission was granted to demolish the former Friendship Inn pub, which has been closed for several years and was the site of a suspected deliberate fire last summer.
For Ringland’s tight-knit community it’s a sign of hope, of muchneeded prosperity in an area often plagued by anti-social behaviour and which had a crime rate of 61 per 1,000 people in 2021 – higher than that of Newport itself, which had a rate of 45 per 1,000 in the same year. In 2020 a man was stabbed in the shopping area in broad daylight.
People there are both proud and cautious – proud of where they live, cautious about any changes and anxious of giving their full names for fear of reprisal.
Local resident Steve, who didn’t want to give his surname, said Ringland had suffered from neglect for many years.
“There’s too much vandalism, antisocial behaviour – all sorts,” he said. “On one occasion someone got up on my car and dented it by using it to get onto the roof of the shop.
“There’s plenty of people who won’t come to the shops because of the antisocial behaviour.”
Ringland’s shopping area was first built in the 1960s as the focal point of a large 1950s residential development on the outskirts of Newport.
Steve said it had slowly deteriorated with businesses closing and some of its features being taken away and never replaced.
“It used to be different here. That circle wasn’t concrete, it used to be a fountain,” Steve said, pointing to the rings of concrete in the middle of the complex. “Kids would throw pennies in there, and nobody would bother with it. It was a nice area.
“As the years have gone by, obviously it has degenerated.
“There are bins here but there’s still litter everywhere. People will stand there and just throw it on the floor.”
His friend Karen, who also didn’t want to give her surname, said: “It’s awful. I wouldn’t come down here of an evening. It’s from when it gets dark, from about 5 o’clock onwards.
“Even in the day it’s not very nice.” Brian Whant has lived in Ringland for 40 years.
“It’s mostly quiet around here – until the kids come out,” he said.
“They come down here, some of them on bikes and all that, hanging around, smoking. I pass at night, but I wouldn’t come down here.
“There have been dozens of cars [and] bikes burnt out and left up there. The other week there was someone shooting off an air rifle round the shopping centre. I’ve never heard of that before.”
Brian said the area had lost some services over the years which had resulted in a rise in anti-social behaviour.
“There was a Spencer Boys Club in the circle, that’s gone. There was a youth club, but they set fire to that so they pulled that down.
“They need more things to do.”
One resident, who didn’t want to be named, said she was afraid to let her children walk around near the centre at night.
“You are scared about what might happen. The stabbing in Alway last year, that was on our doorstep really, when you think about it.”
According to the 2019 Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD), through which the Welsh Government measures deprivation levels, Ringland was among the areas of Newport with one of the highest rates of deprivation.
However, some have rejected the suggestion the area has any more problems than other communities in Newport.
Charlotte, who didn’t want to give her surname, said she was disappointed with the label.
“I have a job, and my partner and I have worked hard for what we have,” she said. “We are not deprived.
“We have got things here. We’ve got
“I’m not sure all these new properties are a good thing. The parking is atrocious, the cars are regularly vandalised. The bus service is terrible. There’s going to be more noise. I’d like to see the coppers get a bit tougher
JEFF STEER
“It’s mostly quiet around here – until the kids come out. They come down here, some of them on bikes and all that, hanging around, smoking. I pass at night, but I wouldn’t come down here.
There have been dozens of cars [and] bikes burnt out and left up there
BRIAN WHANT
a lovely butchers, the fruit shop and things like that.
“The young people here need something to do. The problem now is that people have no respect. The litter is unbelievable.
“I have grown up here and it is not a community. I used to know my neighbours – now I don’t talk to any of them because they’re of an older age than my partner and I.
“It is only a certain few here that ruin it for the rest of us.”
In recent years there have also been a number of initiatives set up to improve the area.
Ringland Community Group is in its second year and was set up by professionals and volunteers to provide services they felt were missing.
The group has since run successful initiatives like football and rugby, food for local primary schools and a music festival in Ringland field.
A member of the group, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “We set up as a group to become a provider of services to our area as we felt that Ringland had been neglected with services and buildings being closed.
“We always hear that there is nothing to do, [and] we are the group that will create things to do.
“We have big plans for growth going forward with new sponsor deals being negotiated – we just need more helpful and willing residents and volunteers.”
The group member said crime, antisocial behaviour and Ringland being labelled a deprived area had led to some residents isolating themselves and that it wanted to bring these people back into the community.
“We have provided many activities these include regular football and rugby sessions.
“We support three local primary schools with bread, some given as food parcels to wanting families. Other schools use them for breakfast club or in the class to make sure that no child sits hungry in school.
“We have also organised a live music festival on Ringland field.
“A lot of what was provided was free and we were given great help by local churches.
“We organised snacks with Santa in December, that was a great success.
“We have activities like mother and toddler and netball that are ready to start soon.”
The group is also applying for funding to get a community minibus that could be used for free to organise wellbeing trips, and recently signed a five-year lease to a piece of land previously used for fly-tipping, which will be turned into a wildlife and well-being garden.
“Men’s breakfast morning starts next week [and] we have 10 computers waiting for a venue to start a computer club
to help the older generation become computer literate,” they added.
“There are many positives of Ringland – those that live here love being a part of the community, and many residents have spent most of their lives here and would never move.”
As well as housing and a new shopping centre, Ringland’s redevelopment also includes a new health and well-being centre proposed by Newport council.
After so many years of underinvestment, the major plans have been met with a mixture of cautious optimism and scepticism.
“I hope [it will make a difference] but nothing is guaranteed these days,” Steve said.
“This is one of the more deprived areas, if you like. There is nothing around here for kids to do. There is a play park, but that’s for toddlers. But for teenagers, nothing.
“If they’ve got somewhere to go, something to do, it’s better than hanging around doing nothing. Half the problem is they get bored.
“The policing picked up at one stage, we had two PCOs come down, then it sort of drifted off a bit. If you call them they’ll come if they have time, because obviously they’re understaffed as well.
“They come every fortnight to have a community meeting, discuss what’s going on, what can and can’t be done. “I’d like more police presence.” Zoey Newton-Karbautzki Scott, 54, lives near where the new houses will be. “We are going to be right in the middle of the redevelopment,” she said. “We overlook the shopping centre and we see a lot of things happen, whether it is drug related, people hanging around. Whether or not that will all stop when the new shopping area opens or if they will find somewhere else I don’t know.
“They had CCTV in the shopping area but I don’t think those have worked in a long time. It can be quite worrying for the elderly people going out doing their shopping or collecting their pensions. There have been a few incidents where people have had their money taken or their handbags snatched. It’s really hard to police that kind of thing.”
Zoey said her husband had even had to stand outside and protect his car one night after other cars in the area were vandalised.
“A lot of young people are of an age where they should be looking for work but they are hanging around causing mayhem. There are people that have set up football and rugby for the younger kids to go to, which is great.”
Jeff Steer, 64, has grown up in Ringland and said he was unsure whether the development would make a difference: “I grew up here, my dad is still up there. We’ve seen a lot of changes. It’s not as busy as it used to be. The kids are running wild, but that’s everywhere I know. They set fire to the pub.
“I’m not sure all these new properties are a good thing. The parking is atrocious, the cars are regularly vandalised. The bus service is terrible.
“There’s going to be more noise. I’d like to see the coppers get a bit tougher.”
Rachel George, head of regeneration at Newport City Homes, said: “We have exciting plans for the regeneration of Ringland, building 158 new homes and relocating the shopping centre, and we’re pleased to have been granted planning permission by Newport City Council last month.
“We are in the process of appointing a contractor now, and in the next few weeks we will be writing to all local residents to update them on our plans for the coming months.
“We are building 24 new homes in Mountbatten Close. There will be one and two-bedroom apartments as well as two and three-bedroom houses, all of which will be energy efficient and connected to the wider community with sustainable transport links.
“Construction is well under way with local contractor Pendragon (Design and Build) who are based in Cwmbran. We hope to complete the work on these new homes in autumn 2022.”