Drawing on what you have learnt about City Road from the Making Social Lives DVD and Learning Companion 1, outline some of the inequalities on a street you know.
The purpose of this assignment is to examine the course materials based on City Road whilst also focusing on a street I know.
Having grown up in a neighbouring village, High Street in Kippax, West Yorkshire is a street I am well accustomed to.
I will show you the inequalities I have observed on High Street, and in particular how the arrival of a supermarket affected small businesses in the area.
The advent of deeper mining and the discovery of coal seams in a nearby village, Allerton Bywater, saw Kippax undergo a rapid expansion in the 19th century into a typical northern mining community. The decline in deep coal mining saw the Allerton Bywater pit close in the 1990’s. Kippax then adjusted to its new status as a commuter village. Its proximity to major roads (A1/M1/M62) means that many residents now commute to work in neighbouring towns and cities rather than work locally.
Fifteen years ago High Street was a mix of independent butchers, grocers and newsagents. Since then High Street has suffered from a loss of numerous businesses since the opening of a large Co-Op supermarket. Many small family businesses closed and continue to stand unoccupied now.
Reasons for the partial decline of the village centre include:
* Shoppers going to large retail centres and parks, where, along with everyday shopping purchases, luxury items can be bought too.
* Independent shops miss out on dominating evening trade as commuters return to the village for the evening.
Since the closure of the pit in Allerton Bywater, people began to move away to find work or remained in Kippax and took lower paid jobs or started to receive Social Security benefits. As a result Kippax is now classed as an area of social deprivation and High Street reflects the symptoms of an area in financial difficulty with some...