NECN: The National Estate Churches Network
Charity Registered in England & Wales, No 1104767
Registered Office: Bishop’s House, Orsett Road, Horndon-on-the Hill, Essex, SS17, 8NS
www.nationalestatechurches.org
NECN exists to bring together those working for our estates. Find out more about taking part.
Find our more about publications from various people and organisations associated with NECN.
NECN holds conferences exploring estate ministry. See more about our conferences here.
NEW RESEARCH ON ESTATES
Progress on twenty 'unpopular' estates, 1980-2005
This study by Rebecca Tunstall and Alice Coulter of the London School of Economics
is based on research carried out on 20 council estates in England over 25 years.
The estates were tracked through visits and interviews in 1982, 1988, 1994 and 2005.
In 1980, the estates were all unpopular, had serious management problems and many
also had physical problems. The research has tracked their progress and this latest
project comments on the whole period, with a focus on the last ten years.
Full report and summaries are available from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website.
http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/1958.asp
FRESH EXPRESSIONS IN THE URBAN CONTEXT by Eleanor Williams
This book explores the signs of hope for a church often seen in decline. Click here
for more details.
“Housing Estates in the news…”
In a recent article in the Guardian, Christian socialist Bob Holman, who lived and
worked for many years on deprived housing estates, explains why he has taken up the
cause of asylum seekers:
“In more than 25 years living on deprived housing estates in Bath and then Glasgow,
Bob Holman never once met an asylum seeker. Yet this week, the Christian socialist
and long-time Labour party member is one of the authors of a report on asylum seekers
for former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith's thinktank, the Centre for Social Justice.
Holman may be 72 and retired from the frontline of neighbourhood work. He may have
moved from Easterhouse to a more sedate estate in another part of Glasgow to spend
more time with his wife, Annette, and their grandchildren. But he was never going
to break the habit of a lifetime by backing away from injustice when he sees it.
This is a man, after all, who famously gave up a comfortable life as a university
professor to follow his religious convictions to live and work among the poor……….”
To read the full article click here.