Willow Park Housing Trust
New Communities in Wythenshawe
Willow Park Housing Trust has just published ground-breaking research on the growing number of BME and other new and diverse residents and tenants living in Wythenshawe, south Manchester.
Wythenshawe was built as a planned Garden Suburb of Manchester from the mid 1930’s onwards. The 2001 Census showed that the area was home to a predominantly White British population, with less than 5% black and minority ethnic households – mainly from African Caribbean, Irish and mixed race backgrounds.
By 2007 the percentage of minority or new communities has doubled to 10%. The diversity of communities reflects similar growth in Manchester as a whole, with people from the Eastern European accession countries, South America, Africa, Middle East and other regions of the World. This figure is projected to grow to 15% by 2011.
These changes to the communities in Wythenshawe are important factors for Willow Park and will inform the future service delivery for the Trust.
Andrea Howarth, Head of Housing for Willow Park said; “What we have learned from this research is that we have a growing, diverse range of customers and new communities with changing needs. Housing Associations, along with other partner agencies, need to work together to ensure that all our services reflect the needs of this growing population. Willow Park is about more than just houses, so we need to know that our community facilities, community involvement, social enterprise projects and financial inclusion work supports and reflects the needs of new communities.”Willow Park has just hosted a seminar with partner agencies in Wythenshawe to share its findings and to ensure a multi-agency approach to tackling some of the challenges and opportunities that these changes bring. A new forum of local agencies, including Willow Park, is now being set up to take forward the findings and actions from this research.
Please feel free to download the Wythenshawe Research document:
WP BME and new communities in Wythenshawe Research document.pdf