Coltman Street 'Village' project.

Coltman St is an attractive victorian street with several listed buildings close to the city centre of Hull. In the past it has had problems due to historical factors including the two world wars which changed it from a wealthy merchant and shipowner’s street through many changes to where it is now. Largely private Landlord owned single and multi occupancy flats. A few council flats and even fewer private houses.

How is Coltman St changing?

There is a real will for change at the moment. This change is community lead, infact it is demanded. We have had real support from the Council, the police and the landlords and, by and large from the whole community who are thoroughly sick of the reputation of the street becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.That is to say that because of the tendency of people to think of the street as a 'bad area' in the past not many people wanted to live here who had any options. Therefore there was a low uptake even of council housing. As a result the street became unbalanced towards people who were deprived either financially or socially. This is not to say that the street is solely peopled by down and outs, just that there has been an unequal balance towards people with problems. This was compounded during the '80s by the conversion of many of the victorian houses into single occupancy units thus encouraging an unstable and itinerant population instead of using the opportunity to develop a more stable population. This stability is what is now needed. This is the long term goal of the 'Village' project. (part of the Coltman St Neighbourhood Watch)

Our attitude to the current problems

We already have in our midst residents with problems from single parenthood and financial problems through alcoholism to drug dependancy. We now have as many as a healthy society can cope with if not a few more. We would now like to remove the drug dealersto give the rest of the population a chance.

To this end we have to say NO TOLERANCE OF DRUG DEALING.

On the plus side we already have many residents who have been in the street around a decade, some much longer. Mostly these long term residents are in private housing or larger rented houses and flats. We hope to be able to support those who are already resident through their problems but can only do this if the balance is improved so that we are not overwhelmed. To do this we have to persuade more people to join us as residents who see the potential of a street which in say central London would be a very desirable place to live. Those people who want to be part of a 'Village' type community. We have therefore begun a positive propaganda campaign. On the one hand letting the drug dealers and their custiomers know that it is no longer going to be 'cool' or even safe for them to trade on our streets. And on the other to encourage the uptake of new tenancies in properties where the landlords have shown a special interest and support of our aims.We hope these landlords will be rewarded by the sort of tenants they deserve and by an improvement in the value of their properties.

This change is now happening, and it is happening quickly. In addition to the support of several landlords:- The police have begun a higher profile policing strategy and have shown that they will support our efforts. The Council have already helped us with an environmental day, The parks department have promised to replace the 2 missing trees this autumn The technical services have pulled out all the stops to repair and replace problems with paving and lighting. In short the support we have recieved has surprised even us (and we're very demanding!)

You can help

If you are interested in helping with our efforts in any way, or in joining us as a resident and member of our community please email us at:- village@coltmanstreet.co.uk
or write to:-
Coltman st Village project
C/O 2 Cranford
121 Coltman st
Hull
HU3 2SF