The Flaneur

As somebody who grew up in a London overspill town, walking around the Abbey Estate was broadly familiar – even if at no point it felt like ‘coming home’. My memories are of a time of hope with people happy to compare the New Town favourably to the old East End. Although built roughly 10 years later, echoes of new communities away from the slums of the old East End remain on ‘The Farm’. One woman I spoke with while walking told me: “I’ve lived 30 years on Abbey Farm, and I’ll die here.” She added: “I couldn’t wish for better neighbours!” These sentiments were far from alone among long-term residents I chatted with.

Built as spokes radiating from the central curved Canterbury Way, the estate is named after Cathedral cities handily alphabetised as you walk around. Some of the planning was inspired – despite being what might be described as “intensive housing”, no child on the estate needs to cross a road to fnd a substantial area of green. Many of the closes towards the forest at its north westerly end are by any terms very pretty places to live. Less happily, the estate suffers badly from another feature of post-war town planning – a lack of infrastructure. Just one school, no GP surgery, a run-down community centre and a few shops provide scant amenities for over a thousand residents. I was musing on the notion it is people who make a place as I walked down Canterbury Way on my second day of strolling. A couple of lads aged perhaps 10-13 ran past me on their way towards the railway station with another couple following. I smiled briefy at the frst two before I was stunned by a ferce pain on the side of my face. Disorientated, I couldn’t make out what had happened before the laughter and mocking of the boys gave it away. They had thrown something at me heavy enough to hurt – and it had hit me. Before we go any further, I feel I should make a few things clear… Firstly, my overriding emotion was anger. I was attempting to act as an advocate for their estate – yet was attacked for my (literal) pains. The incident was only an inch or so away from me being in hospital and a boy detained, with the clear potential for two lives ruined. Secondly, whatever deprivations an individual might face and however good or bad the surroundings, an unprovoked assault on somebody posing no challenge is unimaginably stupid… plus chucking missiles at a stranger is very unlikely to help anybody. Later, conversations with other, more pleasant, youngsters yielded no further harm – but it became very clear there is a generational issue that splits feelings in the area. More than one spoke to me of there being “Nothing to do”. With rumours of a regeneration rife, these genuine feelings need to be accounted for. Any further development surely needs to move away from the intensive status quo and provide a massive boost to a dismally poor infrastructure for the place to thrive. Terry Land, The Flaneur

Trees are a feature of the Abbey Estate, which sits on the edge of Thetford Forest