Template:Infobox England place with map UA
This page aims to be objective and to present reporting with a neutral point of view. [1]
Blacon
(Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom) is a large ex-council owned housing estate located in North_West_England containing a mixture of private homes and substantial public council-built properties. The large rural ex-council built estate of Blacon is however now owned, run and maintained by the Chester And District Housing Trust CDHT.
Blacon is situated on a hill overlooking Chester in the near distance and is set in a beautiful rural ___location; it is also known as one of the largest city council (built) housing estates in Europe. It is a Village/Town... a Mini-Town...(?) and is to be found just over one mile to the north-west of Chester and is literally only yards from the North Wales border.
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BLACON Parade - Click Picture To Enlarge
Most of the older, North Blacon (Blacon Hall - see below), was built by Chester City Council in the 1950s/1960s, though further parts were added on the old army camp site in South Blacon (Blacon Lodge - see below), in the late 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. The area is built on what was previously, farming land, and if you take a 10 or 15 minute walk from any part of the estate, you are again in open countryside.
As noted above, Blacon sits in a rural ___location with views across to the city centre of Chester one and a half miles away, and also to the Welsh Hills, (i.e. Snowdonia National Park and mountain range) some twenty miles to the south-west.
Blacon people are commited to building a kind and caring community, and they have the continuing support and leadership brought about through many local community-led initiatives and projects. See more here: "Blacon Together"
There is currently, at time of writing, end 2006, much discussion about the regeneration which will be taking place in the next three to seven years to both the south and north parts of this 'Mini-Town'; this is in addition to talk of a twenty-year plan for the continuing improvement to the Blacon life and living environment.
Today Blacon is home to a new multi-million pound Chester [http://www.cheshire.police.uk police station] headquarters and is also home to many well-regarded, quality schools and churches.
Blacon Camp
Schools
Blacon is well served by a number of well-regarded schools, four Primary and one Comprehensive :
Primary
* J.H. Godwin
* Dee Point
* Highfield
* The Arches
Comprehensive
* Blacon High School
Churches
Blacon Railway Station
No longer exists. It was closed because of the "Beeching Act" of railway vandalism in the mid 1960's.
Richard Beeching's report "The Reshaping of British Railways" was published in 1963 and gave an accurate description of the state of the network for the first time. It had been suspected a lot of the rail network was under used and therefore uneconomic. The report revealed that only half the routes covered the cost of operating them, and that half the stations produced about 95% of all the revenue.
When the "Beeching Plan" was finalised in 1965, it recommended that only about half of the 17,000 miles of track be retained. It also suggested that 3,000 miles should be considerably upgraded.
Other effects were the end of steam traction (although this had started to be phased out with the 1955 Modernisation Plan) and the introduction of container traffic. See Also:[2]
Chester City Council C.C.C.
Blacon consists of two Chester City Council wards, Blacon Hall (pop. 7977) and Blacon Lodge (pop. 5518). Each ward elects three Councillors. All are currently Labour and are:-
Blacon Hall
- John Price, MBE, Deputy Leader of Council
- Judith Stainthorp
- Norman Stainthorp
Blacon Lodge
- Reggie Jones
- Marie Nelson
- Ethel Price
Cheshire County Council
Blacon has Labour representation on the County Council.
UK Parliament
Blacon, as part of the City of Chester (constituency) UK Paliament , is represented in the UK Parliament by Christine Russell
European Parliament
References
- ^ This page aims to be objective and hopes to present reporting with a neutral point of view i.e. NPOV: "reporting without bias, and with the emphasis on eyewitness accounts and verifiable facts." See Also: NPOV
- ^ See Also:"http://www.rodge.force9.co.uk/faq/beeching.html"