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New Addington: the benighted estate Tia Sharp called home
It was meant to be a 1930s 'garden estate' – today it is as deprived as many inner city communities
WHEN the Tia Sharp murder suspect, Stuart Hazell, 37, appeared before magistrates in south London yesterday, one headline spoke volumes about the community in which they both lived. It read: "Tia suspect will appear by video link to deter crowds." The article below the headline explained that the highly unusual decision had been taken "to avoid the danger that an angry crowd might gather" outside the magistrates' court.
Hazell and 12-year-old Tia, the grand-daughter of Hazell's partner, Christine Sharp, 46, lived on the estate of New Addington, an appendix to south London which reaches down into the Kent countryside. Despite its leafy surrounds, New Addington is an impoverished ghetto of 25,000 largely white people.
The risk that the authorities wished to avoid by keeping Hazell away from court was an unseemly and possibly violent demonstration by vigilante-minded local people.
New Addington is one of the strangest places in London. It sits perched on the North Downs at the end of the Croydon tram network close to the pleasant and well-heeled village of Addington with its golf courses and Palace, a country club used for weddings and corporate functions. New Addington is a community of 25,000 people, many of them truly poor, as removed from the affluence on their doorstep as if it were a deprived inner city estate.
New Addington was begun in the 1930s, planned as a working class garden city, and completed in the 1960s. The planners' expectations for the people who moved there was well illustrated by the provision (or lack of it) of educational opportunities. The estate had no grammar school, but did have a farm to train labourers nicknamed 'Cowshit College' and attached to the community's then secondary modern school.
The many hard-working, law-abiding people who live in New Addington have to fight the prejudices that pull such areas down. To give a New Addington address when applying for a job is likely to mean that the application goes to the bottom of the pile. The reputation affects all aspects of life: credit, education, employment.
The strange horrors of the past two weeks will not have helped: the apparent murder (though this has yet to be established) of a popular 12-year-old girl; the tangled relationships in her family – an absent and departed father, a young grandmother living with the man suspected of the girl's killing; a (yet again) bungled police operation, which failed to find Tia's body in the loft of one of the small, badly constructed houses that comprise most of the estate.
The 'shrine' – and there is no other word for the huge accumulation of teddy bears, flowers and candles that grows by the hour outside the house where Tia's body was found – is evidence of local people's solidarity, but so also is the fear that hundreds might demonstrate outside the magistrates' court, attacking the van bringing the suspect to court.
I first visited New Addington at the height of the early 1980s boom. I spoke to people without qualifications, skills or motivation, many of whom had fallen foul of the law. They had disappeared into what one local educator described to me as a 'black hole'. Without characterising the whole community – and there is great sensitivity about the area's reputation – it would be true to say that New Addington has more than its fair share of the illiterate and the innumerate. Few of the young men I then interviewed had stable family backgrounds.
To be born in an area like New Addington is to be born as far away as possible from any sort of privilege. If David Cameron's analysis of 'broken Britain' has any validity, it applies to communities like this one. Normally, most of the country takes little notice: it is only when riots or a head-lined murder capture the national attention that the rest of us take note.
A few years ago, when I was writing an article about a homicide cop, I was called to New Addington where there had been a professional hit killing of a drug dealer recently released from prison. The victim's car tyres had been deflated, and when he came out to investigate, he was shot through the back of the head by a gunman who calmly walked away and (as far as I know) was never caught. This murder made no waves whatsoever, the implication being 'What does one expect in a low-life community?'
By contrast, Tia's death – highlighted by the community search for her when all the time her body was decomposing in her grandmother's loft – captured the national imagination, in part, one feels, because its awful circumstances stood in such contrast to the happy and triumphant Olympic Games taking place a few miles away across London. The good and the bad in contemporary British life could not have been more starkly underlined. Tia's suspected murder is as far from the Games feel-good factor as one could get.
Having got to know several people in New Addington, I feel desperately sorry for the community. The name of the benighted estate, already infamous in its own locality, will now be known far more widely for all the wrong reasons. If those who live there struggled previously to overcome the disadvantages of their address, it will now be a great deal harder.
We talk of the Olympic legacy, meaning sports fields and opportunities for (mainly fortunate) athletes: a fitting legacy for Tia Sharp would be a national resolution to tackle the ills that beset so many who normally live out-of-sight and out-of-mind in places like New Addington. Each murder is unique, but they often tell us something important about the communities in which they happen. ·
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Great piece - good old fashioned journalism based on long experience and real insight (and knocks on the head some preconceptions). I lived on an estate as a kid in the 1970s, but there was never this sense of hopelessness. But then, there were two grammar schools as well as a reasonable comprehensive all within walking distance. Idiot (and usually privileged) ministers of all political hues have ensured these ladders out of deprivation have been taken away. Yobbos on sink estates may vandalise underpasses; these bastards vandalised the nation's education system.
hammy_hamster
I appreciate your comment but I have to say this piece said very little to me. Just the usual "don't paint the whole working class community with the same brushstroke". Well, the issue here is that there is obviously serious dysfunction in communities like this. Had this been a "black" or "Asian" estate there would have been so much said but in this case it's more of a "bite your tongue" situation and remember the glorious working (white) class. There's an attempt to portray this family as an anomaly.
I suspect it is not. It is insufficient to blame any and all politicians (through generations) for the failure to instill any moral code, any value in hard work or education. How many families on estates such as these are multi-generational benefit users? I suspect the majority. If this had been a black estate, this would have been an issue. On a white estate, it's almost an entitlement. Many immigrants arrive in the UK in dire poverty but within a generation or two their families are no longer dependent on the state. Why is it not the case in estates such as this?
Unless serious attempts are made by the state and the families themselves to break this cycle such "ghettos" will remain. That's not good for anyone.
I was born on a pretty awful council estate and was lucky enough to move to a much more pleasant one when I was five. What despair for those who cannot escape! What would the Posh Boys who run the country care about any of this?
A very well written article of truth and compassion.
padraigcolman
"What would the Posh Boys who run the country care about any of this?"
Have you asked? Your words suggest a prejudice against some people...it isn't helpful, prejudice rarely is. Most often it is wrong.
Yes attack where we live, we may be lower down in your estimation but we are in no way put down by our surroundings, your assumptions of New Addington being a 'ghetto' is inaccurate and demoralizing and to a latter extent damaging and stereotypical of what a outsider would say of our area its easy to tar everyone with the same brush without bothering to investigate properly, this community came together and spent hours putting posters up and searching for Tia when the news and media and police only bothered when to them the story got interesting, his could happened to ANY area and like any area in England you will have you're good and bad.
Maybe next time use your journalistic skills by writing a article that isn't flawed by a snobbish attitude of those you deem beneath you and I can assure you I am not illiterate or from a troubled family its articles like theses that paint a negative view of where we live, I guess I should go back to my corner and scrounge of the state with my 8 children and crappy housing like you assume everyone in New Addington is doing, Disgusting article.
The problem with this article is not the sentiment behind it but the facts.......Tia Sharp did not live there. She was visiting her grandmother on the estate. As far as I know she lived in Pollards Hill near Mitcham.....but why let the facts get in the way of a good story?!
I spent the first 20 years of my life in Croydon. A friend at school and his family arrived penniless from Bangladesh in the 1990s, they were sent to New Addington, The locals welcomed them by putting dog mess through their letterbox on the first night. They were racially abused for a few days before the council rehoused them. My friend is now a successful businessman. The scum who did it are probably still enjoying the 'community spirit' of New Addington.
Yes Mike, you are right,. Tia Sharp did not live there.
I agree with you it makes the story much more 'sexy' by twisting the facts, either way poor reporting.
During the happy time of the Olympics, my mind would still wonder about Tia. And every time the news came on I would listen to see if she had been found. after a few days, I didn't thing she would be found alive, a work colleague , thought she would be found alive, thinking she had run away. I thought it would be one of two male members of the family who would be found to be the killer. The killer was one of them, Poor Tia, she had so many 'steps' in her young life. step dad, step grand father.... and to think he went out with Tia's mum first.....
I want justice fast and not let it linger on for months, like the parents who killed their 6 kids, they still havent been sentenced yet!
RIP Tia. x
I want justice fast and not let it linger on for months like they have with the parents who killed their 6 children.
RIP Tia. x
Disgusting! They ant facts it's total fiction get them straight or don't print Tia lived in Merton!!!
Am damn sure it ant jus the addington people the courts are worried about the blokes a child killer n everyone from all paths of life agree he should get what's coming to him! It's called being human!!!!!!!!!!!
Where on earth is the truth or compassion in that article ???
Robert Chesshyre has used the death of an innocent child as an excuse to put NewAddington down.
Unfortunately this is not the first area that a child has been tragically murdered, but because NewAddington is not classed as a privileged area small minded people think they have a right to criticise.
I was born, educated and raised in New
Addington. At 41 years of age, I still choose to live and raise my own children here
and proud to do so.
The estate may not have
the best facilities (aesthetically) or houses of grandeur or even an education
system that money can buy; however, you
seem to have missed out on what is important. We have residents, councillors,
community groups and passionate people that thrive daily to improve what we do
have, which takes motivation, heart, love, pride and passion as well as a sense
of community.
Furthermore, you
discuss (without characterising!) (Yes that’s sarcasm) many as illiterate and innumerate
(just how many people did you question in the 25,000?) as if it is an aspect to
be persecuted. The few without these skills are often moved onto the estate
because it is our community spirit that gives the support for their improvement
despite the lack of facilities. I personally deem this as a quality as everyone
is seen as individual with different skills and attributes, not a reason to
judge someone as if beneath them.
You also mention many
people being truly poor, I assume you mean in the monetary sense of the word
(which is not the be all and end all). This may be so, but we are rich in the ‘togetherness’
and if a tragic incident such as Tia Sharps initial missing status arises, you
can be secure in the fact the Addington community will be there to help. This
was also apparent in the riots last year, when outsiders threatened to vandalise
our shops and businesses. There was a time when protecting your own was not
seen as vigilante but a right!
As for feeling sorry
for residents that live on the estate; I suggest you keep your pity, for we are
strong and more that apt in overcoming journalistic drivel.
I feel privileged to
live and work among a caring, passionate community and proud of the recent efforts
they made in the tragic Tia Sharp case. The community did what it did best and
came together to help someone else.
I am not suggesting it
is all good, but like anything else, it IS the minority that ruin it for the
majority!
Keeley McCausland BA
Yes I wonder if those of you in commenting from New Addington could speak to this - how are black people treated in your close knit and united community? I suspect this example is not unusual?
I'm sorry but Tia's alleged killer was apparently assisted by a neighbour. Of course we don't know the facts but if that's the case then wasn't just some nutter that the whole community can vilify. There might have been three members of the community involved.
I'm not saying everyone who lives in this estate is "bad" but I am saying there are serious issues around benefits dependency, literacy/education, sexual education (this girl was 12 and her grandmother 46? I assume and I might be wrong but I doubt it that this is not unusual?) Yes, politicians certainly have a role to play in insuring services (schools, decent safe housing) but there are limits and the community must really be made to stand up and make use of these services.
what's the purpose of this? to justify why so many British men are closet absuers and murders who prey on the ones closest to them then bury them in the garden or under the patio or hide them in the loft? yeah, it's because they're deprived that they do this stuff
Millie Dowler -
Walton-on-Thames, Surrey
James Bulger - Bootle, Liverpool
Holly Wells & Jessica Chapman - Soham, Cambridgeshire
Sarah Payne - Kingston Gorse, West Sussex.
Just to name a few ...............
All tragically murdered in the area they themselves or their grandparents lived.
Were they all benighted estate's too ??
Unfortunately this sort of thing happens in many different parts of the country, there is good and bad where ever you go !!!!
I do not agree with this article one bit. To say that New Addington is a 'ghetto' that is inhabited by the poor and illiterate is wrong. You can not justify a whole community based on a few talked to, every single community has its bad parts, people who struggle with money, people who are not as well educated as others. I was born and raised in New Addington, went to the local schools and now I am currently in my final year reading for a honours degree at university. Without the good community and schooling of New Addington, I would have no made it to where I am today.
What this article fails to mention (and I see this over and over) is how the inhabitants can be nurtured to get out of government-supported living. Council estates should not be relied on like they are now. Rather than tapping into government support as a bandaid solution, it seems that generation after generation live in these council estates - how can the government keep up if each new generation abuses the system and doesn't get out of it? Tia's grandmother is 46 and her horrific boyfriend is 37 - doesn't anyone else think this is an issue? The inhabitants of such communities should be be forced to find better paying jobs so they can move on and make a better life for themselves - they need to take responsibilty. That will be a legacy. Instead, the handouts continue and there is demand for even more council living. Tia's grandmother was 16 when she had her daughter and Tia was born to an 18 year old. What an environment to grow up in...and there's such community spirit that Tia's grandmother failed to mention her granddaughter was in a bin bag in the house. There is a problem and it will take a miracle to fix it - that's the lesson learned from this story. How very sad.
Oh please. The "posh boys" are the ones paying for growing generations of people who rely on government support. It pays for a lot of these people not to work and continue relying on the welfare state. And ps why can't the inhabitants of these council estates take a bit of time to make their environment look and feel better? If I want to make my home more pleasant, I give it a splash of paint and decorate so that it feels more homely. I don't make excuses and ask for more pocket money from the government. Take responsilbility!
Good for you! I also take responsibility for my own life and have never claimed benefit in my life.
I see, Tom, that you
are a serial commenter so I don’t really want to get engaged with you for too
long. “Prejudice” means “a judgement
formed without due consideration of relevant issues”. My judgement of
David Cameron and George Osborne is based on the evidence of their actions.
How
would you propose that I ask them how they feel about poor people? I have worked close to the
centre of power and I know that such a question would be pointless. Some
functionary would send me a stock reply telling me how deeply moved the Posh Boys are by the plight of the poor
and they would continue cutting public services and increasing benefits for the
rich.
"What would the Posh Boys who run the country care..."
If you don't know but you assume an answer, that is prejudice. I wonder how many more of your opinions that support this prejudice are also prejudices?
Ah, Tom, dear heart! I had a feeling this could be a lasting relationship. Wonder away and be happy. You didn't answer my question: "How
would you propose that I ask them how they feel about poor people?"
I don't. Nor have I said anything that implies I might. It seems that rather than admit you were wrong you are trying to find a way to make it look as if you are right. That is disingenuous. you are prejudiced and untrustworthy...not a nice person.
"Ah Tom, dear heart" ...utterly childish. I shall respond no further.
Now don’t be petulant, Tom. It does
not become you.
You say: “I don't. Nor have I
said anything that implies I might.” I don’t understand that at all. Implies
that you might what exactly?
“It seems that rather than admit
you were wrong you are trying to find a way to make it look as if you are
right.” Wrong about what exactly? You are not expressing yourself very clearly.
It is a pity you are bidding me
farewell so soon without answering my legitimate question. The basis of your
charge of prejudice is that I am assuming that Cameron and Osborne don’t care
about the plebs without any evidence to support my assertion. The phrase you
originally used was: “Have you asked?”
My response to you was: “How would you propose that I ask them
how they feel about poor people?” I cited my inside knowledge of the way politicians
deal with questions from the public. I have myself written many such replies
for politicians.
It is a pity that you are saying
goodbye after such a short time with answering my question.
BTW. I am a very nice person. most people who know me well consider me little short of saintly.
What a stupid and ignorant article !
Having lived in New Addington for most of my life (37 years) I feel disgusted with this report as I feel it gives the impression that the vast majority of people who live here are uneducated benefit scroungers. This is a narrow minded and inaccurate report that deeply offends many people like myself who work hard, own their own homes and are educated not illiterate as described. There are many families in New Addington who are very successful business owners, hard working, upstanding, law abiding citizens, who will all be utterly disgusted that they have been tarred with the same brush as the low life scum that have committed this appalling crime. In fact two of the accused were not even originally form New Addington, one from Merton and the other from Swansea. In my circle of family and close friends alone we have educated people who are currently doing jobs like: executives at Harley Street, business partners for B.T, civil engineers, pilots in RAF, photographers for the Ministry of Defence, to name but a few, all educated and from New Addington. So next time you are interviewing some of the 25,000 residents of New Addington maybe you should speak to some of us who are educated and work hard for a living with morals, who raise our children to know right from wrong and be respectful human beings, and not concentrate your search for the uneducated unemployed scroungers that you clearly must have spoken to for this report, most of which have probably been shipped into New Addington from places that are far worse.
I think you're missing the point. You talk about benefits for the rich and cutting public services for the poor. YAWN! Anyone who makes over 50k pays 40% taxes and receives very little from the contributed monies from their hard earned money. Just take a good look at housing around London - almost half of it is council. And people still complain - it is beyond me. We live in a culture of excuses. A lot of these people on these estates have babies when they are still children, then have more so they can bigger houses. Why work if you can live off the state? Stuart Hazell is a sick man - I I feel sick just thinking about what he may hve done to Tia. He was the grandmother's boyfriend and also dated the mother. Now, it surfaces that more people in the "spirited" community may have helped. Of course, there are some honest hard working people who need a boost from the government, but just take a good look at the majority of people who get too used to not working and getting everything for free while the "posh boys" make money to subsidise it. WAKE UP!
I had NEVER heard of New Addington until the murder of the lovely child Tia (in Spanish Tia is Auntie!) Sharp. We have had many murders of children in England, but this one really really hurt and touched me. I thought from the start that she had been murdered. However, what sort of people are these that the boyfriend of the grandmother is 37, the grandmother is 46 (must have had her daughter at 16 or earlier). We are not talking of today, but some years ago. This is a truly truly deprived area. I cannot cannot believe that anyone could harm another human being, let alone a child and, more importantly
, a child in the family. Stuart Hazell is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but look at him - I thought he was at least 67. The grandmother of Tia - what was she thinking of, to start a relationship with such a person? What sort of a person is she? This is such a very deprived area that we just cannot comprehend how people live in this way. My heart goes out to everyone concerned. If I can do anything for New Addington or any other really deprived area, I will. In 21st Century Britain we should ALL be living normal lives. Please let me know what I can do to help.
I am awake and feel privileged to have the opportunity to read your views,
In fact it is far from an anomaly - There are many people here with degrees, masters, and even doctorates - myself included - the estate is vast, and the people here are dynamic, passionate, and represent many walks of life. Stop and look a little closer and you will find true diversity all linked together with a kicking community spirit.
Really, you have phds living on the estate? Perhaps you could provide some stats and sources? I would honestly be interested in this information.
And you can justify this statement how?
by what you see on the news and read online, yes the propaganda brigade begins you've formed a opinion of a area you've never heard of or been too by the inaccurate journalism that like too sensationalize stories.
Don't see a one minded view of people because of the life choices of others.
This can and has happened all over England, it doesn't matter where you come from nobody is immune from stuff like this, it makes me seethe too see judgmental and bigoted views of areas they feel is lower than others without 9/10 bothering to actually go and see them for themselves, it just shows nothing changes.
I would be interested in where you get your facts from? As mentioned below we're a diverse community with a whole manner of qualifications and job titles. Besides this, the important thing is, we have solidarity, we look after our own and those that join us. If I had a problem I know there would be someone on the estate to help, be it friend, organisation or professional. How many other communities can say the same?
Oh dear oh dear, a battle of words commences. Well here are some more to add to the pile -
Vision without action is merely a dream.Action without vision just passes the time.Action with vision can change the world.
I have lived in addington all my life. I came from a hard working family my parents moved here when my dad left the army and then went on to become a fireman so all you people that are slating Arrington DO NOT having a clue what your going on about. I to had my first child at a young age who I might add has grown up to be a very hard workIng young man who has worked since the age of 13 doing paper rounds etc. so unless you have lived here I don't see what right you have to slate our community!!!!!!!!!!
So it's not alright to generalise that most people in New Addington are poorly educated compared to the UK as a whole, but it is alright to generalise that people from New Addington are 'dynamic, passionate and represent many walks of life'. At least the generalisations I make can be proven. In my experience the only dynamism about the place is on Dole Cheque day and the only passion the type that creates all the single teenage mums that live there.
Looking after your own is very often a euphemism for being aggressive towards those who you don't perceive as your own. I'm sure most Croydon residents have experienced this kind of community spirit from the residents of New Addington.
I think your point would have been better made if you showed your talent for using punctuation and capital letters. As it is, you just proved a lot of the people you're trying to debate to be correct in their assumptions.
What do you imagine a council estate is for if not to dump the unwanted? If you've got an self-respect, you buy your own home. Was the Tramlink superficial as well? You should said something before they spent tens of millions building a tram line that goes somewhere most people would have no need or desire to visit in their entire lives.
I like to see people fighting for their community. In this
case, reputation is at the heart of the argument. Many are arguing factual
disparities in this article. However, it is perceptions derived from selective
facts that paint the picture. Do we focus on the problems of New Addington, or
do we highlight the fantastic contribution some of their selfless residents
make to the community? People innately linger towards beliefs, truths and
values based off of their own experiences. Demographically speaking from the perspective
of age, empirical evidence based on national statistics suggests certain
problems may be disproportionately manifest. Put another way, we make many
mistakes in our lives, but none more so than when we are young. This is the
case in every province in the world. Adolescence brings with it its own set of
problems. However, it is extraordinary how the residents of New Addington are,
as a community, equal to the challenge. Various youth schemes run by volunteers
are making a real difference. They deserve the highest respect and serve as a shining
example to all of us living elsewhere in the country. I, (as an outsider)
salute the volunteers for their actions, not their words. They alone show the
way forward, join them and you can win respect for your area. What could you all
achieve in 5 years if you all really put your mind to it? Prove to everyone how
good your community is, or suffer the indignities of the past.
Your claims to literacy are rather undermined by the fact that the entire first paragraph of your post is a single sentence. So is the second by the way.
KM, with all due respect... 'Your' New Addington is a different place for anyone of colour or who are openly practicing Muslims.
Absolutely DISGUSTING you can't even get your facts right you fool! Call yourself a Journalist? Tia did not even live here. You obviously have a personal grievance against the people of New Addington, and should be held to account for this drivel. How insensetive can one be? Even if this article were accurate, your sense of timing is appalling. It never ceases to amaze me how some people who call themselves journalists are nothing but glory hunting muckrakers, creating what is tantamount to slanderous controversy for financial gain or personal hatred- I am not a resident of the area, but know several of them, both tenants and home-owners, all good people. You disgust me, and I am personally going to do everything I can to bring this to the attention of the 'peasantry' so that they may confront you for your evil rant. Shame on you.....
You state that you had never heard of this area, yet you also state that it is a truly truly deprived area! You are the one that is deprived, deprived of FACTS! You people disgust me and should be ashamed of yourselves and your misinformed drivel.
You are a class- bigot and you disgust me. Why buy your own home? It's a matter of personal opinion, some people ( myself included) choose not to tie themselves down with property. On the other side of the coin, explain why several people in the area choose to BUY their own home!!! You are as insensitive as the low life idiot that wrote the article, and I hope that the reason you are like you are is because you are so miserable that you are entertained by the misfortune of others in an attempt to sustain substance in your vindictive and judgemental existence.
You ignorant, pretentious spiteful fool
aand by the way, you jumped up ignoramus, have you checked your own punctuation and spelling?
I have lived in new Addington all my life, there has always been a stigma attached to living here and yet I've never had a problem. Im not saying I'll stay here forever but Addington certainly doesn't deserve all the bad reputation it gets just because of how it looks or how a few people choose to behave. There are bad areas No MATTER where you live, I personally wouldn't walk through norwood or streatham on my own but I wouldn't have a problem here. I suggest these people think about what they are writing and remember what they say can have a bad affect on an already bad situation. You have a responsibility to report news not gossip and half truths.
What the hell are you talking about! I must be living in a different new addington to the one you have disc ribbed.
I have been here for 26 years and am a teacher. My children all attended the local primary school and then went on to complete O and A levels at CharlesmDarwin School in biggib hill. They are all employed and no predudice was shown by employers because of where they lived. I suggest you do more thorough research in future and stop putting such rubbish before the general public. This was not a report but a slap in the face for a wonderful community. Annmarie Shortland New Addington resident.
as someone who was birn and raised in harlow, essex ( one of the UK's "new towns" and who has lived in both holland, new york , croydon and for the past 4 years in new addington i find not only the article, offensive, but insulting and full of the kind of fiction a top novelist would be proud of. The writer obviously hasnt seen light from there dimly lit basement office in many years and has trawled through the gutter press of the past 10 years or more to try and vilify the rubbish they have written. Sure New Addington isnt perfect, far from it, but sorry name one single place in this county that is. One city, town or village that doesnt have its percenetage of troublemakers, unemployed or misguided youths. The recent tragic epsiode of Tia Sharp ( who didnt come from new addington) is not only a truely appallingling bad example of what new addington is about but also factually incorrect and has been twisted to make the addington community seem like a pack of blood hungry wolves. The simple fact is the Addington community and spirit rallied round to help find Tia, were involved in printing out and handing out over 50,000 leaflets searching and liasing with the Police day and night. When the horrible truth of Tia's death came to light the community as a whole was and still is in a state of shock. But again have rallied round and shown that one little girl not from this neighbourhood touched there hearts and this has been shown by the amount of flowers, cards, cuddly toys and messages left in memory. Add to that a lantern lighting event took place in memory of Tia and again addington showed strength in numbers and community spirit to join in this. Of course there is Anger too on the estate surrounding the events. a natural feeling among any self respecting citizen under the circumstances. AS for a comment above suggesting more people involved. Speculation so please dont spout rubbish until you get the true facts, the neighbour was questioned over hes allegation of sighting Tia nothing more. Recent troubles too in new addington agan fingers have pointed at locals. again incorrect, the recent spate of shoplifting verbal abuse in the streets and even people being attacked has ALL stemed from some travellers parked up at the bottom of addington. another misnomer saying addington is a predominatly white community. absolute rot its a very mixed community of both blacks and whites. Unemployment. No better and no worse than 99% of the rest of the country again incorrect facts. As someone who works full time with a full time working wife and children addington may not be the most desirable place to live but i know when i get to addington tram stop on way home from work i feel safe to be back here. i have neigbours to keep eye out on the kids when playing and the community here is always friendly. Yes of course some teenagers are known to cause trouble but thats the same anywhere. Maybe its because of articles like this that put addington in a bad light that gives it its reputation. Personally i think the persont hat wrote this article needs to not only give up journalism but also write a written apology to each and every addington resident. oh and you want to know about the true community of addington. try looking up pathfinders on facebook. then you'll know what its like to live in a real caring society.
are where do you live. obviously not addington because you would know the whole article is a pile of fantasy, i suggest unless you actually know what your talking about you shut the hell up
william you are an arrogant prat. Not everyone is fully parse with puntuation and spelling certainly not when angered by such drivel as this article. yet you are the worst kind of poster who attacks people on there grammer and not there point of view as a human being. crawl back under the rock you came out from under you are as bad as the writer of this tosh. Your ignorance is beyond belief that you judge people on there spelling and not there views. how DARE you, you disgust me.
seriously william you talk out your arse. bigotted arrogant and foolish with an attitude much like this article that strives to do nothing but cause harm and bad feeling. go away now before i get really annoyed. And yes i have several uni qualifications and work as an IT techincal manager and my wife is a highly qualified Liason officer and we live in new addington so do we fit into your stereotypical false assumptions.. no i dont think so.
you have no clue what your talking about. firstly Addington is NOT a depreived Area. it is green and pleasant with many semi detached houses, open parks and woodland. It is NOT a haven of high rise flats and low cost cheap houses and is CERTAINLY NOT a ghetto as stated, in fact far from it. Certainly for an estate this large of course there are one or two areas that could do with a lick of paint but that is probably less than 5% of the whole area. As for the above mentioned tragic incident. facts straight Tia Sharp did NOT come from addington, Hazell is NOT from addington orginally and what he did bears ZERO significance to location.
Such lies: I and many of my friends and that is a lot ,respect people of all religions, race ,and nationality. I have many friends of all diversity's And know of many others who have also. People only get disrespect when the show disrespect for others
This girl did not come from New Addington so why Is this area deprived just because a journalist says so. And you my friend are just as judgemental about the whole thing because you believe every thing you read in a paper and you are also very condescending in the things you wrote. And we do not need help from people like.
Being poor or rich, academic or illiterate, in a house or Council Estate does not make you a murderer, an alcoholic, drug user or a pedophile. I have seen rich people take drugs and lose their life, there are respected bankers that go home and beat up their wifes, a rich young model recently beat up his girlfriend, rich celebrities are caught molesting young children, and so on and on it goes in human history through Kings, Lords, Peers and Laymen. Whether they were drunk, poor or born to the rich the murderer/s would have committed the same crime at some time because thats who they are! For some child murderers it is the fear of being caught that keeps their urges under control but at some point something bad takes place...the article concentrated upon a community that has nothing to do with these 'people of interest' whatever life this community may lead is not the perception or thoughts, feelings of Tia's murderer/s. Each person is an individual regardless of background or culture. Each action their own thoughts and therefore without comment on the journalist or whether it was offensive, the whole article was simply irrelevant.
I grew up in New Addington and my family still lives there, and quite frankly I find this entire article offensive! Growing up in a poor area does not mean that you have to be hopeless and deprived, at the age of 25, I'm working for a Fortune 500 company and earning more than the average 25 year old who grew up with all the opportunities you say here that I lacked in my childhood and early adulthood, not to mention I now live in privately rented 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in Reigate. Tell me, if there's such stigma about my hometown and we're all so 'benighted', which for all the other poor, illiterate Addo yobs having this article read to them I should clarify means we exist in a state of educational and moral darkness, how on earth have I and so many of the people I grew up with in New Addington managed to get through life and make something of themselves? Perhaps before you make condemning and frankly snobbish judgements about an area you should try talking to the people who are at work while you're busy collecting notes outside the job centre.
I don't doubt that New Addington has community spirit, nor that the connection to Tia Sharp is overstated and that they do their best in a place that doesn't have the greatest of infrastructure/amenities in place, as some satellite estates tend to suffer from.
However, by many social policy measures, and despite the pride shown in the comments published here by residents, it is a benighted place.
Statistics ( published on the Croydon council website) show that 23% of the working-age population are on some form of out of work benefit, which is one of the highest in London.
This must be at least partly the result of a low level of skills among residents: 60% of working-age residents have low or no skills or qualifications.
In New Addington, 26.4% of reception class pupils are classed as either obese or overweight.
Also,levels of crime are higher in New Addington than the borough average (and the generally the borough average is higher than the national average, too).
New Addington has a much higher percentage of social housing than many local areas and as social housing is largely allocated on need, it will therefore have generally needier (i.e. deprived, non-working, sick/disabled etc) population than other more mixed tenure areas.
The thinking policeman blog has an analysis on the family set up so while this isn't location specific (could have happened anywhere, not just New Addington), he and the commentators make a good point.
Namely, that lone parents with children access social housing much more readily than single men, so they attract homeless single men, some of whom have extensive criminal records, drink/drugs problems, are violent and sometimes predatory to children.
Then there's the 'serial monogamy' of lone parents who have children by different partners and all the dynamics and risks this brings to a household that is likely to be the current one of generations of the same family operating as non-working underclass.
Children guarantee an income through benefits and housing that the non-skilled undereducated parent cannot or does not want to achieve through employment, a cycle that repeats itself. These ‘vulnerable’ lone parents then continue to attract a succession of vary undesirable partners.