Middlesbrough’s Newport ward battles deprivation with community spirit

The entirety of the Middlebrough Council ward and surrounding area finds itself in the top 10 per cent of most deprived neighbourhoods across the country – which means it is classified as “highly deprived”.

Yet, amidst all the problems that the area faces, there are rays of positivity and work occurring in the community that aims to give people hope and opportunities.

Firstly though, there is the question of what exact area are we actually talking about?

Anne Romaine, a lifelong resident (and current Middlesbrough councillor), was keen to point out that the area that she lives in, now known as Newport, was formerly Ayresome.

Ayresome is the term used in government data on deprivation to identify a micro-area of Middlesbrough (bordered by the A66, Hartington Road and a selection of local roads), that has consistently been in the 100 most deprived neighbourhoods across England since 2004, even though this small section of the town features in the modern-day Newport ward. 

Parliament Road is on the boundary of numerous “highly deprived” micro-wards, known as a lower level super output area (LSOA) – the street features in the 45th and 43th worst affected LSOAs out of more than 30,000 in England. 

When discussing the statistics, John Kabuye (another ward councillor) spoke about the transient community. This was backed up when a number of people who were stopped by the Local Democracy Reporting Service and didn’t feel able to talk about the area, as they were new to the neighbourhood.

One woman who had recently moved up north from London was asked for her thoughts as she was walking past and simply said: “It’s alright”.

The review of Newport by another person as he left a local shop was less upbeat, saying: “It’s a s***hole”, as he crossed the road.

Often, negative stereotypes plague areas that are deemed deprived or poverty-stricken, but on a walk from the Newport Community Hub along Glebe Road, the only thing littering the pavements was the sheer number of leaves in the autumnal weather.

On the residential streets explored in this part of town, the thing that was noticeable was how clean they were, rather than having a litter problem. In one instance, however, a vacuum cleaner had been dumped just outside a back alley gate.

The Glebe Park play area saw kids having fun while parents chatted amongst themselves, and there was an influx of families walking through the park and catching up with one another at school kick-out time.

Glebe Park play area. Credit: Daniel Hodgson. Free for LDRS use.

Ms Romaine serves as a Labour councillor in Middlesbrough and was elected in 2023, but she wanted to speak about Newport in a different capacity – as a lifelong resident. The 70 year old great-grandmother chatted to the Local Democracy Reporting Service in her home.

She said: “Lots of people say awful things about here and I lived four streets down here, from this house, all of my life.”

She highlighted how her mother had been born and raised in Aire Street, with even deeper roots in the area.

Ms Romaine added: “My grandmother’s first house when she got married, I can almost see it from my front door.

“We’re indigenous to this area and I love this area and I think what annoys a lot of people is they don’t like the fact that we have so many of our eastern European cousins here, which I think is a good thing – diversity is the key.”

Lifelong Newport resident (and current ward councillor) Anne Romaine. Credit: Daniel Hodgson. Free for LDRS use.

Ms Romaine decried the amount of racism that occurs locally.

She thought that there had certainly been a lot of change over the years, and said that Parliament Road had previously died a death “some years ago”, but now “it’s alive”.

Former Newport resident Carol Brown, 63, begged to differ when she stopped to chat to the LDRS outside Tesco on Parliament Road, explaining that she used to live just a few minutes away on Waverley Street and said how Parliament Road used to be “really nice”.

She said: “You could do all your shopping in one, in this road, it had everything.”

Now, she was unimpressed by the range of shops that occupy the street, saying that there was “nothing” to bring anyone to the area.

She was asked if there were any positives that she could point to and said: “To be honest, no.”

While she had lived much of her life in Newport, since being married, Ms Brown has lived in Marton. 

If it wasn’t for visiting her sister, who still lives in this part of town, she said she would “bypass” the area.

Continuing to discuss Parliament Road, she said: “It’s just not safe.”

In spite of her general view of the street, Ms Brown was pleased to see that Chow’s takeaway had survived, explaining that it used to be “more or less” at the end of the street where she grew up – it is now situated on Parliament Road – she described the team who worked there as “lovely people”.

Parliament Road, which locals said had undergone much change over the years. Credit: Daniel Hodgson. Free for LDRS use.

Ms Romaine was passionate about the area, describing it as her “manor”, in spite of all of the negativity, particularly around Parliament Road. She was positive about the “community” and said that local people always turn up for community events.

The Newport community hub is located on the corner of Union Street and St Paul’s Road, next to Newport Primary School. Ms Romaine praised the efforts at Newport primary, saying that the staff work hard with the kids there. 

Both the school and the hub are on the borderline of the mirco-area that has been classified time and again in every index of multiple deprivation as one of the top 100 most deprived neighbourhoods in the country, out of nearly 34,000 mini areas across England.

Ms Romaine was asked if people in the area keep themselves to themselves, and she said: “The kids are back at school and when the kids come out of school, that little park at the end is full of kids and their mams. It’s difficult to say really, I see the same faces day in, day out.”

She accepted that there were problems in the area, highlighting “indigenous drug and alcohol abusers”, but said she had no problem with them, pointing out that “they are all somebody’s kids, nobody knows what their story is”. 

Confirming what had already become clear while speaking to Ms Romaine, she emphatically said: “I wouldn’t live anywhere else. There’s no way. If I can’t look out of my front window and see people walking up and down this street – my friend lives in Ingleby Barwick, I would die, because it’s isolated.”

Tawana Hassan works in the Roma Market on Parliament Road and has lived in the area for approximately eight years.

He was not glowing about living standards, and pointed out the homeless problem, but was also able to highlight a positive, saying: “I can’t see any drug dealer in this area.”

He thought that there had been an improvement on Parliament Road in the last year.

Staying in Newport, a quick journey to Clifton Street would find the Ubuntu Multicultural Centre CIC.

John Kabuye, 50, is another Labour ward councillor and while he no longer lives in Newport, he is still very active in the community at the Ubuntu.

As well as offering a number of services to the local community (such as enabling people to check their blood pressure), the centre runs an eco shop on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

On the LDRS’ visit, he explained how busy it is on Wednesdays due to the stocking of produce – 10 items are available for £2.

Eco shops prevent food waste and provide a cheaper alternative for local people. The wider centre has now been open for five years, since the pandemic, operating on a Monday to Friday basis.

Mr Kabuye said: “To me, when it comes to poverty, it’s really important that people know how to navigate the system and that’s why we are here, is to explain and inform people of how to do things.”

He discussed the more “informal” approach as certain people don’t want the “lanyard style” of council working or police enforcement.

As a councillor, Mr Kabuye feels able to fill both roles, informal and more formal – whatever people need – by being in the council, it can cut out the middle man in processes that would otherwise take longer.

Pooja Madasu, 27, volunteers at Ubuntu, making sure that people get their food from the eco shop. When not at the Ubuntu, she works a full time job at Amazon.

Pooja Madasu and John Kabuye at the Ubuntu Multicultural Centre. Credit: Daniel Hodgson. Free for LDRS use.

She has lived in Middlesbrough for more than two years and said: “I’m very much interested in helping people and providing some service to the people – communicating with them.”

Another function at Ubuntu is helping people who get “very low”, Ms Madasu explained, offering mental support and motivation to those who need it.

There are computer classes on Friday to offer people basic skills. Mr Kabuye said that their efforts can help people with both immediate and longer-term needs – support is offered to get people into employment. Free music training is also on offer for kids of varying age ranges on Thursdays during term time.

As part of a wider interview on the indices of multiple deprivation, Labour Mayor Chris Cooke was asked about Newport.

He said: “It’s difficult for me not to have a bit of a rose-tinted view of Newport. I absolutely love it as a place, I always will. It reminds me a lot of where I grew up.”

He went on to say: “The people are also just the loveliest and that’s one of the things that strikes me is, despite challenges, despite everything that’s going on, the people there are some of the best people that you will ever meet.”