Green Spaces Project of
the Month
February
2005 - Lower Spen
Nature Reserve, Ravensthorpe
Contact: Jennifer Barr, Wildspace!
Community Liaison Officer
tel: 0113 231 2360,
email: info@pondstrust.org.uk
Context
Kirklees (Metropolitan Council) is a
poor area relative to the rest of W.
Yorks. It is one of the few flat areas in
the county with a high proportion of
countryside. The economy is based on
manufacturing. With a population of
around 850thousand, there is high
unemployment and lots of empty council
housing. People get `dumped' here.
Batley and Dewsbury were Irish areas,
but now have large Gujurati communities.
Dewsbury has one of the largest areas of
derelict land in the UK – ex canal
and railway land.
Ravensthorpe is more
multicultural, with more scattered
populations, and less social cohesion.
There are housing, crime and drugs
issues. Ravensthorpe was once home to
Italian, Polish and Ukranian communities
(did people assimilate or move away?) It
is currently 50:50 white: Asian, of which
mainly Kashmiri / Mirpuri (speaking Urdu
or Punjabi) plus a few Indians (no
Bangladeshis) with lots of refugees and
asylum seekers – mainly Iraqi Kurds
and Africans. There are a handful of
Bosnians and Croatians. The white
population is ageing compared to the
younger Asian population profile.
Culturally, there is a significant
`generation gap' in the Asian community.
More...
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