Heath Town: 'Families can enjoy this estate once again'

A rainbow over Heath Town, which is home to 2,500 residents and undergoing a £120m revamp

In April 1969, a new housing estate in Wolverhampton was officially opened by Princess Margaret. Over the next 50 years, Heath Town developed a reputation for crime and anti-social behaviour, despite its strong sense of community.

Now it is the focus of a £120m regeneration plan, aimed at transforming the lives of its residents.

The first thing you notice when you arrive in Heath Town is the colour.

This corner of Wolverhampton was once associated with unloved, often-decaying properties. Large parts of Heath Town felt dark and threatening, a magnet for crime.

No-one in Heath Town is suggesting crime has been eradicated. Like many inner-city areas, life often isn't always easy for a community where at least 56 different languages are spoken.

But change is happening - with the first new council houses built in Heath Town for 54 years springing up, and housing blocks built in the 1960s either being demolished or updated with modern, bright cladding.

Around 200 homes will be built across nine sites. Residents said they were already reaping the benefits.

'When I moved in, there was no washing machine or shower'

Eteri Potapova said she felt "safe, I can't say anything bad" after 15 years living in Heath Town

Artist Eteri Potapova and her husband Yuri came to Wolverhampton for work from Latvia in 2008 and settled in Heath Town.

It would be six years before they had a shower system and washing machine connections.

"To be honest, when I came here there was a lot to do," she said. "In 2008, when I moved in there were quite a lot of issues and the flats, they were not comfortable to live in."

They have lived there ever since, immersing themselves in the community. Ms Potapova, a member of Walsall Society of Artists who regularly paints in a community room in a Heath Town tower block, said the recent adaptations to the estate had been life-changing.

Eteri Potapova works on her paintings in a community room at a Heath Town tower block

"To compare with 2008 and today, big, big changes have happened, it's much more comfortable to live here," she said.

"There are big changes in the area and inside the flats, a lot of play areas have appeared so it feels like I have come to a different area."

'It's been like a breath of fresh air moving here'

Mark and his wife Sandra and children Goda, Gabi and Lukas love their new home

Mark Matthias and his family moved to Heath Town from another area of Wolverhampton in July "from a very small three-bedroomed council house that was very poorly maintained".

"I hated every brick in it," he said. "I was embarrassed when people came to visit."

When the prospect of moving to Heath Town came up, in a new build house, he seized the opportunity.

"I knew Heath Town had a bit of a bad name, but since I've been living here I've been watching them doing all the cladding and it's fantastic," he said.

"No-one wants 70-year-old houses. With these, they are done to standard immediately with how everyone wants energy efficiency, and I don't think we could have wanted better."

Mark Matthias's new family home in Heath Town is similar in style and construction to these

The 49-year-old added: "I love it, just look at the space. No complaints whatsoever, I absolutely love it.

"Already here, the kids are out and about on their bikes, doing stuff. They've got their freedom."

'It's very different to how it was five or six years ago'

Lisa Storey manages the Hope Community Project, which has been supporting Heath Town residents since 1985

For the last four years, Lisa Storey has been working at the heart of Heath Town, delivering advice and support to people who live there, including many who have arrived in Wolverhampton from overseas.

"At the moment, we're working predominantly with people from refugee and from vulnerable migrant backgrounds, and single men who have been facing long-term unemployment," she said.

"The regeneration programme seems to have picked up speed, there are now new homes on the estate.

"And as you can see, lots of the tower blocks are now getting ready for, or have had, their cladding, so from the outside it looks very, very nice.

There are plans to build 150 new homes across Heath Town

She said people had told her they liked living there, but there were many who had struggled with furniture poverty.

"So people are giving being given new homes, but they haven't got the ability to furnish those," she said.

"We know families who have moved in with no beds, no cooker and that's no way to live."

'Everybody has a right to live in a decent, warm, safe home'

Councillor Steve Evans is also the deputy leader of City of Wolverhampton Council

The man responsible for housing across Wolverhampton is Councillor Steve Evans. "The Heath Town of the 1980s is not the Heath Town of 2023 - it seems to be a better atmosphere," he said.

The city council, working with its housing company Wolverhampton Homes, hopes to have 40 new homes occupied by the end of the year.

"This is all massively important to the people that live on this estate, which was built in the 60s, traditional council style," said Councillor Evans.

"With the greatest respect to the designers back then, things have moved on. It was cold, dark, grey although it had a lot of good people, you know, a lot of warmth in their hearts and in their characters.

"We had anti social behaviour because we had overhead walkways, garage sites that were derelict and they've now been replaced by new housing."

Reminders of Heath Town pre-regeneration remain, with council plans to re-clad the area's tower blocks ongoing

Councillor Evans said the Heath Town tenants and residents' association had been "fantastic" in helping to develop the regeneration plan

He said previously, some properties would be left empty for two years.

"Now, within a month, an empty property is taken by somebody," he said.

"People actually want to move back on to this estate. They want to live here. It's got a bit of colour, it feels safe, it's a better environment.

"Children and families, and older people, can enjoy this estate once again."

BBC Midlands Today captured the start of regeneration work in Heath Town back in November 2017.