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Your support makes all the difference.Three years ago the Leeds estate Halton Moor attracted national notoriety with its joyriding problem, writes Glenda Cooper. Police accused young people of trying to kill officers by deliberately ramming stolen vehicles into police cars.
In the 12 months leading up to January 1993, 230 stolen vehicles were set on fire by young people on the estate. There were six specific incidents of joyriders trying to kill or injure police officers during a three-week period.
But those on the estate management board of Halton Moor, which came into operation in 1993, say that the estate no longer lives up to lurid newspaper headlines - if indeed it ever did.
Margaret Wilson, vice- chairwoman of the board, said they had applied for pounds 23m in funding from the Government in order to improve the estate and make it somewhere to be proud of.
"We started off with the outsides - the roofs, windows," she said. "And then we gave them garden walls and drives and parking bays.
"Then we went in and re-did the insides, with fitted kitchens and bathrooms . . . And most importantly we let people choose what they wanted inside their houses so they felt they had some control over their lives and for the first time could have what they really liked."
The board has so far completed half of the 1,100 properties but are not stopping there. They have also organised an outreach worker to try to help the young unemployed get jobs and have set up environmental groups planting more greenery around the estate. Traffic has been slowed down with anti-speed devices.
"It makes the tenants have more pride in the area in which they live." Ms Wilson said. "They feel they have an investment now for the future. We have volunteers for our youth club and our after-school club."
Police started work several years ago on a football scheme and have helped on estate improvements such as lockable windows and closed-circuit TV.
And the problems that have haunted Halton, such as the joy riding? "It's very quiet now on Halton Moor," Ms Wilson said firmly. "The press coverage in 1993 I didn't think was justified. Yes there were incidents but it was very different to the way it was set up in the press. We have a very good relationship with the police and each other now."
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