Caia Park
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Caia Park is a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It was created in 1985 after a boundary commission review along with four other community areas within the town. At the 2001 census, the community had a population of 11,882 in 5,019 households.[1]
History
The majority of the community area is occupied by the Caia Park (formerly Queen's Park) development of local authority housing. Located in between Acton, Hightown and Rhosnesni in the south-east of Wrexham, this is the largest housing estates in Wales. Much of the estate was laid out in the early 1950s to plans by influential town planner and architect Gordon Stephenson.[2]
The area early on developed a reputation for social problems, and was one of two areas, along with Marseilles in France, studied in this connection by the sociologist Patricia Elton Mayo (daughter of George Elton Mayo).[3]
Today
According to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, the Caia Park and Queensway wards of Caia Park community are two of the 100 most deprived areas in Wales (the 5 wards that make up Caia Park are Cartrefle, Smithfield, Queensway, Whitegate and Wynnstay). The area is now part of the Welsh Assembly's Communities First project.
Caia Park Community Council has been based in the former administration buildings of Cartrefle College since 1988.[4] The Council runs an advice service, a community venue at St Peter's Hall, and funds environmental projects, in addition to the usual community council powers over footpaths, lighting, and input on planning matters.
Riots hit the estate in 2003; around 200 local people and 50 Iraqis were involved. 51 local residents received prison sentences.
References
- ↑ Caia Park Community, Office for National Statistics
- ↑ Stephenson, G. "The Wrexham Experiment — the Queens Park South Estate," Town Planning Review 24, no. 4 (1954): 271-96
- ↑ See Elton Mayo, Patricia. The Making of a Criminal: A Comparative Study of Two Delinquency Areas, George Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1969
- ↑ Caia Park Community Council