'Hemmingwell is not as bad as everyone makes out'

Holly Sampson said the estate had changed for the better since she moved in four years ago

People living on an estate that has been in the news for drugs and knife crime say it does not deserve its bad reputation.

So what is life really like for residents of the Hemmingwell estate in the Northamptonshire town of Wellingborough?

The BBC has been talking to some of them.

People in the Hemmingwell estate know it has a reputation for crime.

In 2021, it was given hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Safer Streets Fund for new CCTV cameras, new front doors and cutting back shrubbery to prevent drugs being hidden.

Residents now say the estate has become safer but there are still issues.

'Cleaned up a bit'

Holly Sampson moved to the estate four years ago.

She said: "My first impression was it wasn't that great to live here.

"But now, living here for four years, it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

"You get your fair share of bad things happening but it's quite a quiet area."

However, she said there could still be a lot of noise at times and police officers patrolling the estate.

She added: "When I first moved into the flat, outside my window I think a child had got stabbed.

"So we had police on the field, an air ambulance and I was pregnant with my first child, so I was a little bit worried and scared.

"But since then I've not had any issues living here."

Ms Sampson said the estate was "quite a close knit community" and that it had "cleaned up a bit" since she first moved in.

'The estate is neglected'

Martin Jones has been on the Hemmingwell estate for more than 20 years and said it had been neglected

Martin Jones has lived on the estate since 2001 and says he has noticed a lot of change in that time.

Most of it was positive, he said, but he believed the estate had been neglected in terms of its appearance.

"I like the community spirit," he said. "I know a lot of people that live on this estate and they know me.

"What I don't like about the estate is the neglect of it."

He told the BBC that grass often went uncut, there was flytipping on a nearby field and rubbish on the streets.

He said: "I walk out of my house to walk the dogs and I think it's a dive or has developed into a tip.

"The houses are brilliant but it has gone downhill in terms of the maintenance of the place.

"But the people are brilliant and friendly."

Residents said community spirit was important on the Hemmingwell estate

'I feel safe here'

Alexa Varga moved to Wellingborough from Hungary for a new start following the breakdown of her marriage in 2011.

She has lived on the estate since 2020 and said it was a great place to live.

"The place I came from in Hungary is not much different, I came from a ghetto.

"This place they call it a ghetto, but for me it's not because here I feel safe.

"When I knock on my neighbour's door for a cup of sugar, I don't see no knives, no guns, no nothing, just kindness and friendliness."