Why I'm proud to come from Caia Park

With attention fixed on Wrexham for the upcoming General Election, my community of Caia Park has been in for a bit of a rough ride from UK tabloids and the press generally. Whilst many (understandably to a point) use Caia to put a spotlight on rising poverty levels and the impact of Tory austerity, there is a real danger that the genuinely rich character and flavour of our community is bypassed in favour of more attention grabbing poverty laden headlines.

Caia Park has recently featured in articles in the Guardian, the New Statesman and the Mirror, along with TV broadcasters Sky News focussing in on our patch as part of their election coverage. Each have highlighted rising poverty levels, many have used pictures of the Red Dragon derelict pub for a bit of added gloom (a building due to be refurbished imminently by the way) and some have even resurrected the 2003 so called ‘Caia Park riots’ to add to the picture of community living in deprivation, desperation and division.

This is not the Caia Park I know, far from it. It’s difficult not to be political about all this given the General Election is driving all this attention and the fact that I’m a Caia girl standing in that election for Plaid Cymru. Because of that, I’ve been told repeatedly that I can‘t have a quote in many of the press articles or be interviewed for the TV coverage. Luckily social media allows me to disregard that in favour of a bit of balance and have my say, so here we go.

I grew up in Caia Park and still live here, as do many members of my family and countless friends. I’m a Plaid county councillor for the Queensway ward in the heart of Caia which is so often the focus of attention and also a local community councillor here too. The recent press attention has been upsetting for many of the people I know and represent, as they feel vilified by the growing hate filled comments and the judgemental bias being levelled at them online. We are often painted by those who see themselves as a cut above as drug fuelled scroungers, who are lazy and uneducated. Other commenters revel in offering their profound and often sarcastic advice to those living in poverty regarding finding cheaper bags of pasta, or getting a couple of pence off tinned food. It makes my blood boil.

I know better of course but that doesn’t make reading some the online comments any less infuriating. Far from the grim press image, my community is in fact a complex network of families and friends who stick together in tough times. We all know each other too. Like so many others living here, my Mum and Dad live around one corner, my Gran in the next street and my brother down the road. As well as knowing my immediate neighbours, I’ve probably got a connection with someone on most streets across Caia Park, we all have. We have a powerful sense of community that many across the UK would envy.

On a professional level, I can also tell you that my community doesn’t wait around for the often distant powers that be to arrive to address many of the day to day challenges we face. We get on and do it. I could give you countless examples over the years where this community has worked together to address so many wide ranging issues, whether it's clearing up litter to tidy up a local field, looking out for scammers targeting our elderly neighbours, or organising food pick ups for struggling families on Christmas Eve, we get on and we do it.

In fairness to the local council, of which I'm a regular critic, huge amounts have been invested into housing locally. Over the last decade thousands of rooves have been replaced, new kitchens and bathrooms installed, solar panels fitted in many homes and a programme of work to replace fencing and overhaul gardens has begun. The ward I represent is 70% council housing and although there is still work to do, the estate is currently looking a lot better than I ever remember it growing up.

So yes we have rising poverty levels here thanks to Tory austerity, much of it impacting on families who are in work as well as those who are not. It’s heart-breaking to see people left with literally not a penny in their bank accounts for weeks on end thanks to Universal Credit and welfare reform. It’s also heart warming and shattering in the same breath to see someone split a days food parcel with their sister because neither have any other way to get a meal.

The poverty is very real for some and it is undoubtedly a disgrace that almost half our children in several Caia Park wards are living in poverty in 2019. But to only see that perspective would give you a purely black and white view of a proud community that is in fact vibrant and full of colour.

When people ask me where I’m from, I tell them I’m from Caia Park with my head held high.