Caia Park

Caia Park (Welsh: Parc Caia), or colloquially Caia, is a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It was created in 1985 after a boundary commission review along with four other community areas within the town. At the 2001 census, the community had a population of 11,882 in 5,019 households,[1] increasing to 12,602 in 2011.

Part of the Caia Park estate, Wrexham

History

The area takes its name from the old Caia or Ty'n y Caeau farm, which was eventually demolished for construction of the Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway.[2] The name is a form of the plural for the Welsh language cae, "field".[3] Caia became a ward of Wrexham Borough after the latter's creation in 1857.

The majority of the community area is occupied by the Caia Park development of local authority housing. Located south of Rhosnesni ward in the south-east of Wrexham town, it is the largest housing estate in Wales and by the 1990s housed a third of Wrexham's population.[4] Much of the estate, originally called Queen's Park, was laid out in the early 1950s to plans by influential town planner and architect Gordon Stephenson.[5]

By the 1960s the area had developed a reputation for social problems, and was one of two areas, along with Marseilles in France, studied in this connection by the sociologist Patricia Elton Mayo (daughter of George Elton Mayo). Mayo stated that her study referred to only a few streets in the estate.[6]

Caia Park riots

On two days in June 2003 there was rioting in Caia Park following tensions between local residents and Iraqi Kurdish refugees, about 60 of whom were housed in the area. About 200 local men, nominally associated with Wrexham football club, fought with police.[7][8] 51 people appeared in court, of whom eight, all long-term residents, received custodial sentences of up to two years.[9]

Today

According to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, the Queensway ward of Caia Park community is one of the 100 most deprived areas in Wales (the 5 wards that make up Caia Park community are Cartrefle, Queensway, Smithfield, Whitegate and Wynnstay). The area was part of the Welsh Government's Communities First anti-poverty programme which was discontinued in March 2018.

Caia Park Community Council was established in 1985.[10] The Council runs an advice service, a community venue at St Peter's Hall, and funds environmental projects, in addition to the usual community council powers over footpaths, lighting, and input on planning matters.

The area has a local football team, FC Queens Park, which plays in the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area).[11]

References
  1. Caia Park Community, Office for National Statistics
  2. Dodd, A. (1957) A History of Wrexham, Hughes, p.83
  3. Owen, H W (1994) The place-names of east Flintshire, UWP, p.232
  4. Town and Country Planning, v 66, 12, 46
  5. Stephenson, G. "The Wrexham Experiment — the Queens Park South Estate," Town Planning Review 24, no. 4 (1954): 271-96
  6. See Elton Mayo, Patricia. The Making of a Criminal: A Comparative Study of Two Delinquency Areas, George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969
  7. "Police officers injured in new Wrexham violence". The Guardian. London. 24 June 2003. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  8. Bunyan, Nigel (25 June 2003). "Football thugs 'led attack on Kurd refugees'". Daily Telegraph. London.
  9. "Final sentencing over estate riots". BBC News. 16 March 2004. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  10. Caia Park Community Council
  11. "Clubs". Welsh National League (Wrexham Area). Retrieved 6 September 2018.

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