Don Bennett

Wheelchair user Don Bennett finds it easier to get around since his home transferred to a housing association and he was moved from a maisonette into a bungalow.

That’s not the only change he’s experienced. In the late 1990s, amid high levels of serious crime and anti-social behaviour, residents were clamouring to leave.

Those who stayed felt unsafe, even inside their homes.

“Hell would have been a good description for this place before,” says Don, who has lived on Blackpool’s Winnipeg Place estate for 20 years. “Flats and cars were regularly firebombed and the properties were in terrible condition.”

Before residents voted in favour of a transfer from council ownership to Manchester Methodist Housing Association, a residents association was set up to improve communication. It remains influential and is regularly consulted by the new landlord.

Once the estate transferred, a block of maisonettes was replaced with 31 new houses for shared ownership and rent. Other residents got new kitchens and bathrooms, doors and windows were replaced and central heating installed.

Today, the area is clean, virtually crime-free and outsiders are queuing up for a tenancy.

“Crime is now pretty much at zero,” Don says. “The roads and communal gardens are kept clean and there’s no graffiti. Everybody feels the same way – we feel safer and proud of our estate.”