Neighbours on a Nottingham estate have opened up on how their community has 'turned a corner' and drastically improved. The Bestwood Estate, home to more than 4,700 people, was in the past notorious for crime, but in recent years, residents say it has changed for the better and now has only minor flaws.
Since the launch of Operation Reacher by Nottinghamshire Police in 2018, in response to a rise in guns being fired in the estate, almost £1.8m of drugs have been seized. Some residents feel a lack of youth facilities were responsible for the area's past, while the Gunn family's actions in the area were also mentioned as being 'imprinted' on the estate.
Sandra Williams has lived on the Bestwood estate for most of her life. Sandra, 69, who is now retired, said: “It’s not as bad as people think. The Bestwood Estate definitely still has a reputation for being full of anti-social behaviour and violence just like St Ann’s but there’s genuine people here, good people.”
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Sandra continued: “The Gunn family made their mark and imprinted the estate. Their past crimes are what a lot of people think of when they think of Bestwood.
“Despite the millions of police cars that I’ve seen zooming around here, the fights and people getting arrested, the good people make this area and we need to start being portrayed in a better light because the estate has turned a corner.”
With independent shops and parks in the area, too, people have spoken out about what they’d like to see more of. Darren Davis, 35 works in a warehouse.
Darren had lived on the Bestwood Estate all his life up until a year ago when he moved not too far to Top Valley. Darren said: “Everyone knows the area has its problems and a lot of people wanted to move at one point because of all the crime.
“A lot of it was young people being pushed into things that they didn’t want to do and in their minds, they must have thought ‘might as well’ because there wasn’t anything else in the area useful for them and there still isn’t.
“There needed to be youth clubs that did football, music and all that stuff for people somewhere parents could send their kids knowing that they’re safe but I just don’t think people wanted to come here at one point and set all of that up because kids were hard to reach.”
Nish Kumar, 26 is a shop assistant at the Bestwood Off Licence. Nish, who lives in Bestwood himself, said: “I like it a lot, I used to live in Derby but experienced racism and that’s never happened here.
“I like the area and the customers are great, the store has been here for about a year and a half. Sometimes we see a lot of the same person, sometimes it’s new faces.”
Jenny Parker from Bestwood is 37. Jenny, who has lived in the area for six years, said: “Before we moved to the area we had heard of all the trouble but I think that it’s changed a lot. I use the shops here [on Beckhampton Road] and the Co-Op.
“I feel like if you don’t live around this bit, here is the only bit with a good bus route.” Jenny continued: “There is a youth club in the area but it’s hardly open, the kids around here don’t give me any trouble, if you respect them, they’ll do the same.”
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin from Nottinghamshire Police said: “Operation Reacher was launched in April 2018 following an increase in organised crime around the Bestwood Estate.This dedicated team of officers were set up to disrupt and dismantle criminal gangs and those living lavish lifestyles off the back of crime and to provide a link between our neighbourhood teams with our Serious and Organised Crime assets.
“Within a year of the launch, the Reacher team seized almost £1.8m of heroin, cocaine, cannabis and MDMA, eight guns and sent a number of people to prison.
"We also engaged with the local community in a way we had never done before and built-up public confidence. This continues today.
“The nature of drug crime is that when one group is dismantled, another will often try to form, and the Reacher team is constantly building an intelligence picture to take out these groups to make neighbourhoods safer and free from those who attempt to make a living from crime.”
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