Rhondda to become 'Daily Mail' country?

[ELO]

You cant deny the wages in ALL the valleys are dreadful compared to those elsewhere

Yes, LMHF, a good point.

But I would think the biggest problem would be finding a secure job. If you can find a really permanent full-time job, then even NMW is 11 grand a year.

That would be just about enough to get a 40k mortgage.

15 grand would be postively plenty.

Elsewhere in the UK wages are higher for sure, but house prices are much, *much* higher than that.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Hang on, youve seen ONE house for that money which required complete renovation.( cost- ££££)

The price of a house ( typical) in ferndale is about double that. Many people in the top end of the rhymney and rhondda valleys will be earning min wage or not alot more.

 

[llantwit]

But thats what Ive heard and seen from fellow studets at uni and when Ive visited them.... They describe it as the 7th circle of hell... cant wait to leave.
I cant say I blame them

Some people will do ok wherever they live because they have families who will get them into good schools, make up for shortcomings in mediocre ones,keep their kids on the straight and narrow there is good and bad everywhere.

Id rather not chance my arm after hearing people around me desperate to get from there and make more of themselves than the card life ( and their area because its mentioned- often) dealt them.Several people I know at uni have been completely ostracised for being students and above themselves. Not for the sake of a cheap house anyway.

would rhondda be as desirable for people without that extended family who both had to work outside the area and juggle a job, childcare etc?? really?? You cant deny the wages in ALL the valleys are dreadful compared to those elsewhere

It's true about the uni thing to an extent. And the jobs. And the wages. And about it not being easy without family/social networks.
Oh, alright then. I guess yer right.

 

[niclas]

This is such a depressing thread - because everybody's talking about what a nice place this could be for people to move to. Nobody's talking about making a good place for the people who already live there to carry on living there... it's almost as if we've accepted that Wales is just a fecking playground for other people to enjoy/retire to while we're meant to go off to Cardiff, Liverpool or London to "make something of ourselves".

Not having a go at anyone (except the Daily Mail), but places like Maerdy and Blaenrhondda shouldn't be abandoned just because the mines have gone - we live in an age where people can supposedly work anywhere, where we allegedly value leisure and the environment and still places like the upper Rhondda are considered shit holes to be avoided.

[Gets off high horse and has a cup of tea]

 

[ELO]

This is such a depressing thread - because everybody's talking about what a nice place this could be for people to move to. Nobody's talking about making a good place for the people who already live there to carry on living there... it's almost as if we've accepted that Wales is just a fecking playground for other people to enjoy/retire to while we're meant to go off to Cardiff, Liverpool or London to "make something of ourselves".

Not having a go at anyone (except the Daily Mail), but places like Maerdy and Blaenrhondda shouldn't be abandoned just because the mines have gone - we live in an age where people can supposedly work anywhere, where we allegedly value leisure and the environment and still places like the upper Rhondda are considered shit holes to be avoided.

[Gets off high horse and has a cup of tea]

Good post. But given that some of the younger generation want to leave to the bright lights of the city(a trend you will find echoed in middle and upper class rural aeras BTW) and the mining generation is aging fast, do you think encouraging familes to the aera from elsewhere is a bad thing?

[enjoy your cup of tea ]

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

This is such a depressing thread - because everybody's talking about what a nice place this could be for people to move to. Nobody's talking about making a good place for the people who already live there to carry on living there... it's almost as if we've accepted that Wales is just a fecking playground for other people to enjoy/retire to while we're meant to go off to Cardiff, Liverpool or London to "make something of ourselves".

Not having a go at anyone (except the Daily Mail), but places like Maerdy and Blaenrhondda shouldn't be abandoned just because the mines have gone - we live in an age where people can supposedly work anywhere, where we allegedly value leisure and the environment and still places like the upper Rhondda are considered shit holes to be avoided.

[Gets off high horse and has a cup of tea]

I completely agree with you.
apart from the Wales bit, I dont think it applies to the whole of wales but when applied to the upper reaches of the valleys its very valid. It could be a nice place to move to but needs an awful lot of investment in an awful lot of ways to make it desirable... desirable for everyone. Surely though if an area was made desireable for ALL people would want to live there and people would want to move there.

 

[niclas]

It could be a nice place to move to but needs an awful lot of investment in an awful lot of ways to make it desirable... desirable for everyone. Surely though if an area was made desireable for ALL people would want to live there and people would want to move there.

Don't think that's always the case. Lots of people want to be close to their friends and family, they want to be where they feel they belong. And that's half the appeal of living in places like the Valleys, isn't it?
OK, it's stifling at times but anyone can get out to a big city and be anonymous for a day, a week or a year.

The Valleys are materially poor (low wages, poor health, poor transport, poor housing, crap environment until recently) but these are all things communities themselves can turn round - with the right resources.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Youve just said exactly the same thing I did about making it desireable for EVERYONE

 

[newbie]

I couldn't even *afford* your house in Derbyshire, wherever it is. Back street terraces, even in aeras with plenty of crime and drugs, fetch 95k plus. Rural aeras? Well I showed you above.

But when I look at parts of the Peak District I do wonder if I'm looking at the future,(both for better *and* for worse), of the ex-coal mining aeras.

FWIW, the last pits in the North Somerset coalfield closed in the early 70s. In the late 70s the houses were amongst the cheapest in the country.
This is a stone miners terrace comparable with the ones posted above, asking price £220,000. 10 years ago, before the regeneration had made much impact (& it's still not finished) the area was still comparatively cheap.

 

[llantwit]

Youve just said exactly the same thing I did about making it desireable for EVERYONE

What's withthe rolleyes and shit LMHF? You've been a bit arsey on this thread haven't you? He wasn't having a go at you.

 

[llantwit]

This is such a depressing thread - because everybody's talking about what a nice place this could be for people to move to. Nobody's talking about making a good place for the people who already live there to carry on living there... it's almost as if we've accepted that Wales is just a fecking playground for other people to enjoy/retire to while we're meant to go off to Cardiff, Liverpool or London to "make something of ourselves".

Not having a go at anyone (except the Daily Mail), but places like Maerdy and Blaenrhondda shouldn't be abandoned just because the mines have gone - we live in an age where people can supposedly work anywhere, where we allegedly value leisure and the environment and still places like the upper Rhondda are considered shit holes to be avoided.

[Gets off high horse and has a cup of tea]

Well, it is a thread about moving to the valleys - what do you expect, eh? I'm sure we all agree that these places shouldn't be written off.
I don't think the thread really implies Wales is a place for people to retire to as some kind of playground at all. The OP is about families maybe moving into the valleys - which isn't a bad thing if they're moving in to work and be part of the community. That's how these places grew in the first place isn't it?
I agree that upper Rhondda isn't and shouldn't be considered a shithole - but I said that up there somewhere /\ anyway.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

What's withthe rolleyes and shit LMHF? You've been a bit arsey on this thread haven't you? He wasn't having a go at you.

Have I??
Apologies Im in a shitty mood.
I just dont see the point in typing a post disagreeing with someone yet using the exact same thing you are supposedly in agreement with to do so??
Confused? I was... hence the rolleyes

 

[llantwit]

Have I??
Apologies Im in a shitty mood.
I just dont see the point in typing a post disagreeing with someone yet using the exact same thing you are supposedly in agreement with to do so??
Confused? I was... hence the rolleyes

Fair play. Soz if I got you wrong.

 

[munkeeunit]

I've noticed crime, drugs, etc being mentioned a lot here, and to pick just one quote at random...

The Valleys are materially poor (low wages, poor health, poor transport, poor housing, crap environment until recently) but these are all things communities themselves can turn round - with the right resources.

tbh, this sounds no different to large swathes of Bristol, which is supposedly materially rich compared to large parts of Wales. I guess the main difference being that even with crap bristol transport you can still quite easily go from a crap part of the city, to a better part, for entertainment if nothing else.

Bristol is especially hit hard by drugs, and is apparently the crack cocaine capital of the U.K. As for heroine, well, for all the evils of the taliban, and the orwellian propaganda which claims that Afghanistan was invaded to get heroine off our streets. The one thing the taliban did do was stamp out heroine production. Crushed testicles were the punishment, and not surprisingly heroine production slumped.

The British have used heroine as a means of controlling it's underemployed masses, and reducing them to a crime riddled, drug dazed, disorientated lump for the last 150+ yrs, and the invasion of Afghanistan appears to have restored that means of social control. Orwell is alive and well in the poppy fields of Afghanistan.

Anyway, I'm going off topic...

Personally, if and when I move to wales I'll be moving there to stay, and while I'm not keen on moving to a bleak, crime riddled area, there's no escaping that unless you have the money to move to a rich suburb or gated community, whatever part of the U.K that may be.

What I need is fresh air, and Wales has that in abundance, barring polluted corners of places like Port Talbot, and its city centres. But I may just be able to stretch to the extortionate rents in somewhere like the mumbles if I can articulately navigate the discrimatory jobsworths in the DHSS, and get most of my rent paid.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

If you need fresh air the valleys has loads of it, and some absoutely breathtaking views.
It all depends what you actually 'need' and everyones needs will be different.
To be fair I look out of my window and can see some wonderful countryside (I live in the tiny aber valley)

 

[davesgcr]

Anyone see the Rough Justice 30 years on prog last week ....about Deri

Follow up said that most people thought the Valleys were getting better all the time - with good community etc. Even though work was challenging in the 1980s etc.

I spent 2 days last week riding the valleys trains and did the whole lot - OK the weather was great - sunny and clear - but my travelling Saes mates were really impressed by the area.

PS - houses at 91k in Abersare for a terrace show how things are going.

 

[Funky_monks]

My missus used to live in Trehafod - we didn't notice many second-homers there mind, aqnd I don't think its likley to happen really.

We now live in cwm Ogwen.

We're the only Sais in the village.....