Broadwater Farm estate seen from Lordship Recreation Ground

Image: © Marathon Taken: 31 Mar 2015

Lordship Recreation Ground was first opened as a public park in 1932 on about 100 acres of the former Broadwater Farm which had been acquired by Tottenham Urban District Council. In the intervening years it has reduced in size as the edges have been taken for development, especially for the Broadwater Farm estate built in the early 1970s. The River Moselle runs through the centre of the park from west to east. The river was diverted to the north of its old course as part of substantial investment in Lordship Recreation Ground. More about Lordship Recreation Ground and what the investment over the last ten years has achieved can be seen at http://www.haringey.gov.uk/community-and-leisure/parks-and-open-spaces/z-parks-and-open-spaces/lordship-recreation-ground In the distance is the Broadwater Farm estate. This was begun in 1967 and the various blocks were named after Second World War airfields. Development had not taken place earlier because of the flood risk from the Moselle. It would have been a very different picture here though on 6th October 1985, the night of the Broadwater Farm riot. A very full and interesting account of the estate is given at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadwater_Farm Since the riot, a great deal of regeneration has taken place and an amazing picture emerges. To quote from the Wikipedia entry "Broadwater Farm now has one of the lowest crime rates of any urban area in the world. In the first quarter of 2005, there was not a single reported robbery or outdoor assault on Broadwater Farm, and only a single burglary, from which all property was recovered and the suspect arrested; this compares with 875 burglaries, 50 robberies and 50 assaults in the third quarter of 1985 immediately preceding the riot. In an independent 2003 survey of all the estate's residents, only 2% said they considered the area unsafe, the lowest figure for any area in London. In 2005 the Metropolitan Police disbanded the Broadwater Farm Unit altogether as no longer required in an area with such a low crime rate."

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