Castle Vale
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Castle Vale is an area of Birmingham, England, originally created as a housing estate in the 1960s.
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History
Construction
The Vale estate was built on the site of the Castle Bromwich Airfield which had been used by the Royal Air Force during World War II. The estate was the largest tower block estate in the UK with over thirty huge tower blocks in one small area. Being built on the site of an airfield, it seemed fitting when many of the streets and blocks of flats took their names from aircraft and airfields. Most of the 5,000 homes on the estate were council-owned and they included 34 multi-storey blocks of flats. By the end of the 1960s, Castle Vale was completed with a population of 11,000.
However, the Castle Vale estate was widely regarded as a no-go area by the end of the 1980s. Many of the homes, especially the tower blocks, became prone to damp and heating problems and were becoming increasingly difficult to let. Drugs and violent crime were rife on the estate. Such was the estate's reputation that many residents felt that employers were prejudiced against job applicants from the estate. It was also felt that the police often assumed much of the crime in surrounding areas was caused by Castle Vale residents.
Regeneration
In 1994 the tenants of the Castle Vale estate voted for a breakaway from Birmingham City Council and their homes were controlled by a Housing Action Trust, known locally as "The Hat", with a twelve-year plan for regeneration.
The Housing Action Trust's initial plans were to demolish 17 of the 34 tower blocks and renovate the other half. A handful of low-rise homes were also earmarked for demolition but the vast majority were expected to be renovated. But a change of plan resulted in 32 of the estate's 34 tower blocks being demolished by the end of 2003, and there are now just two multi-storey blocks of flats in the area. Almost all of the other homes on the estate have been refurbished, while new low-rise homes have sprung up on the site of the demolished flats.
In October 2003 tenants were balloted on whether administration of the estate should be returned to the City Council or be administered by a housing association. On a 78% turnout, 94% of tenants voted in favour of Castle Vale Community Housing Association.
Points of interest
To celebrate the area's connection with the Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane - 12,000 of the aircraft were built at Castle Bromwich Aerodrome Factory between 1940 and 1945 - a large metal sculpture entitled Sentinel designed by Tim Tolkien was erected on the roundabout located between the estate and and the Jaguar factory in 2000. The roundabout was subsequently renamed "Spitfire Island".
External References
- Birmingham City Council's Castle Vale Page (http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=19750&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=1453)
- Castle Vale Housing Action Trust (http://www.cvhat.org.uk/index.html)
- Castle Vale Community Housing Association (http://www.cvcha.co.uk/)
- Sentinel (Spitfire sculpture) website (http://www.spitfire-sculpture.co.uk/spit1.htm)