Chatham's Neighbourhood: Assessing Health, Crime & Government Impact

This essay examines the socio-economic and environmental challenges facing the Chatham neighborhood, focusing on disparities in life expectancy, water and air pollution, low income and unemployment, inadequate housing, and rising crime rates, particularly in the Luton Street area. It highlights the historical context of Chatham, tracing its evolution from a naval dockyard to a town grappling with significant deprivation and health inequalities. The essay also explores the impact of government interventions, noting both positive and negative consequences on the residents' health and well-being. It emphasizes the urgent need for effective solutions to address the complex interplay of factors contributing to the area's decline and improve the quality of life for its residents. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar essays and study resources.

Running head: NEIGHBOURHOOD ESSAY
Neighborhood Essay
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Life expectancy................................................................................................................................3
The poor area...................................................................................................................................3
Chatham: Then and Now.................................................................................................................3
Government Steps and Impact on lives of the Residents..............................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Medway town is located in the Souths – east’s half way along the North Kent coast. This town
takes its name from the river that is flowing through it. It is a very large ares comprising of a huge
population. Medway covers a large area and has large populations (over 274,015 people in 2014) but
comprises the three major towns of Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham (Chatham Historical Society
2018).
Life expectancy
The life expectancy on the year 2014 was 6.3 years lower than the normal rate in case of
males and about 4.8 years lower than the normal in case of women. However, the major shift has
been seen when the life expectancy for both men and the women changed. The life expectancy
for women became 5.8 lower for women and about 8.2 of men. So, it is understandable that there
surely have been a large scale degradation that has sharply affected the lives of the individuals
living in Chatham (newsobserver 2018).
The poor area
Chatham is suffering from many harmful environmental problems. One among them is
the badly polluted water. The condition of the residents is becoming worse as they are leading
they're lived under the fear of developing some harmful waterborne diseases. The drinking water
that is available to the local residents is black, dirty and filled with disease-causing germs.

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Chatham: Then and Now
The local rural residents are not receiving any such help from the Government. This
contamination is mainly caused due to the setting up of the turbines and the good pumps. There
are many people living the rural regions. These people mainly include the farmers and the
owners of many such farmlands who have to face regular problems because of the setting up of
the turbines or the windmills around their farmlands.
Water pollution
The water level of the wells gets disturbed, as a result of this the water that is available to
the farmers and their families become contaminated and black, dirty and silty in nature (Pain et
al. 2014). Many local residents are of the opinion that they have been living in the third place for
so many generations and they have never really faced any such severe problem before. They
have always been receiving pure, clean and fresh drinking water in the past for so many
generations (Ringquist 2016). After decades of using this clean fresh drinking water, now they
are getting water that is not at all suitable for being used for drinking or for any other such
purposes. The wind farm construction has led to the large-scale pollution of water. They realize
that the wind turbine construction is necessary for the generation of the green energy to the area,
but this must not take place at the cost of their families. The rural people are not against the
green energy but they are against the ignorance of the Government. They feel that they have
been left to die by their government. Even after reporting constantly the Government is not
taking any working or helpful measure to mitigate the problem.

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Air pollution
There are also chances of airborne diseases for the people living in Chatham. The
population is increasing and the more the number of residents more is the amount of pollution.
This is because as the more the number of people, the number of vehicles owned by them also
increases (Chatham-kent.ca 2018). There are also a large number of factories that have to carry
on the production in very large and bulk amounts. It is for this reason that there is a large
concentration of smog created in the environment. The concentration of smog was so alarming in
the Chatham district that a smog alert or smog advisory was also implemented. As it is a
combination of the smoke and for the sources of those two pollutants must be controlled. There
are people who are regular smokers and they have to go out for getting a smoke break. Going out
in such polluted conditions might lead to problems of eye irritations and also many respiratory
problems. As a result of these the outdoor activities are often suspended but this is really a major
problem for the residents as this can really stop all their day to day normal activities like taking a
bus ride for going to markets, schools, offices, hospitals and other such places. So, if the smog
alerts keep the very common and essential outdoor activities like bus rides suspended then this
hampers the lives of the individuals a great deal (Rao et al. 2018).
Low income and Unemployment
There is also the problem of low income existing among the residents of Chatham. There
are many people living in the poor and the deprived areas of Chatham. The income available to
the individual people living in the different areas of Chatham is very unevenly distributed and as
a result of this the affordability of those people also varies. This is also directly related to the
lower number of educated people. As many of the families are not adequately educated they did

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not realize the importance of proper education. It is because of this reason that they are not very
active in sending their wards to schools and colleges. Rather they want their children to work and
to share the financial burden of their families (Shankardass et al. 2017). This in turn gives rise to
the increased chances of child labor and child poverty in Chatham.
The two most alarming domains of deprivation are income of the individuals and the
rates of employment. There are about 29 neighborhoods present in Medway, and they count
about 20 percent of the most deprived localities nationally. Among the most deprived localities
of Medway the three prominent ones are the Gillingham North and the three are in Luton and
Way field.
Housing facilities
The population of Chatham contains people who have not completed the high school and
very of them have university degrees. This accounts for a very low employment rates as well.
Even if the people are employed the amount of income earned by majority of the people is very
less (Townshend and Lake 2017). As a result of this, they are not able to afford good housing
facilities as well. Due to the poor income people cannot go for good housing facilities. They live
in the poorly furnished houses that also have very poor housing facilities. These houses are
located in remote regions with very less or negligible sanitation facilities. These unhygienic
conditions create many health-related problems. The lack of education and poor income facilities
also leads a higher chance of child poverty. The families do not realize the health and the mental
risks to which the children are subjected when they are made to work and give their labor for the
menial work like working in factories or working as domestic help in the housed of other
individuals. The ranking of Chatham in the field of child labor and child poverty is quite

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alarming. It is even worse than the poor income and the poor employment rate of the individuals.
There are also inequalities among the different classes of people in the health and medical
grounds. The medical aid received by people also depends upon the socio-economic status of
people. This is directly proportional to the reduction in the life expectancy rate of people. The
social and political scenario of Chatham is so severe that people having lower income rates are
subjected to suffer due to the lack of proper and timely medical and health facilities (Young and
Trickett 2017). There exists a clear distinction or a social gradient. The lower the income the
lower is the life expectancy of those people. The health of the people of Chatham degrades day
after day because there is no health awareness among people. The rate of consumption of healthy
products like fruits and vegetables is very less in comparison to the consumption of the
unhealthy products like alcohol, drugs and other unhealthy food products. This is clearly evident
from the difference existing in the life expectancy rate of the deprived and the affluent classes.
People with lower income are not able to afford timely medical facilities and the ones having the
good financial condition are able to pay the bills of the hospital and are able to buy the medicines
(Graham 2012). However the ones having low income facilities are not able to provide such huge
amount of money at a particular time.
Crimes
Apart from this, there are a large number of crimes that have been taking place over the
streets of Chatham over the last few years. Some of the streets and lanes of Chatham are enlisted
among the most dangerous ones where people may have the courage of walking freely during the
daytime but they will never feel the same while they are walking on the same streets at night.
One among them is the Luton Street. The local residents who have their houses built in and
around the corners of the Luton Street are of the opinion that they avoid walking on these streets

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at night. The scenario was quite different earlier but the scenario has really changed a great deal
in these recent years. This road has been repeatedly highlighted in the business news due to the
large number of violent and sexual crimes (Chatham Daily News 2018). About 108 crime
including sexual crimes and rape have been recorded. There are many families in London who
decide to raise their kids well and it is for this reason that they often decide to move to Chatham
at Kent. In the past few years, there have been many crimes that have cropped up in the Chatham
area at Kent. The problems are of varied kinds. There are problems of drugs, serious crimes like
sexual assaults, murders and also several environmental issues as well. This road of Chatham is
beset with crimes of all sorts. A man was stabbed just behind the shop where he used to work by
a stranger who had been identified as some would-be thief. The man was named Gurd Singh who
used to work in the Codfather chip shop was attacked and injured mercilessly. This was caused
mainly due to the some monetary matter (Kentlive 2018 Crime). The attacker wanted money
from Gurd and threatened him with a knife. After committing this crime, the attacker was
arressted and imprisoned with a seven-year imprisonment sentence has then been set free and
released from the prison. This shows that the legal system is not really very effective or strong.
On being interviewed people who are the natives of Luton Street have referred it to be a
scary place and have admitted that violence is really one of the major issues in this place
(Chatham-kent.ca 2018). People who have been living in this place for about 30 years or so do
not like walking here at night. They say that the roads are best with drug addicts. People selling
and buying drugs and other addictive materials are strewn on the road and they often become
really very violent. There are people who throw the drug packets on the road or into the houses
through the window and others are there to pick them up. There have also been several stabbings
taking place in the span of the last 12 months. Some people in general and the women in

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particular have been subjected to verbal abuse. The incidences of drug are so severe that there
have been reports where people have stolen into the houses and demanded drugs and money. In
the year 2013, Richard Tarrant and IIir Meta stole into a house at the Luton road flat and then
demanded money and drugs. They had gone there fully armed so that they could beat the person
if needed. Those two attackers snatched money from a tin box and then also started beating the
person with the golf stick. There are also cases of domestic violence that takes place behind the
closed doors every now and then. All these are evidence of the fact that the legal system is not
very strong here and that people have become very casual. They do not really care about
maintaining the law. There has been that merciless incident of a father, Danai Muhammadi,
killing his wife Melissa Crook and their daughter Noah by burning them alive inside the house.
Muhammadi took the help from his friend Farhad Mahmud and his girlfriend Emma Smith to
implement the planning of this heinous crime.
People say that the presence of police along the corners of the Luton Street have
increased which shows that the Government is paying attention towards the rate of crimes taking
place (Prüss-Üstün and Neira 2016). This shows that police department has realized that they
have a major role in restoring the healthy atmosphere of Luton Street. The crimes that have
cropped up rapidly in the past few years have left the people mentally frustrated and scared.
People are leading their lives under the fear that there can be several harms coming onto their
lives.
Steps taken by Government
The police forces have assured that the residents of the Luton Street will be able to lead
their lives normally and in a safe and peaceful environment (TVO 2018). They will carry on

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regular patrolling so in and around the Luton Street so that the chances of violence can be
controlled. They also set up regular inspections at the house so that people cannot carry on the
drug business by hiding the drug packets in the corners of their houses. The housing facilities
will also be improved (TROGDON 2018). It was declared by the head of the Preston
Development that each and every village will contain a school, grocery shops, fire stations,
police stations and other such common and essential things so that the residents can easily get the
timely assistance as and when they need. This will help the residents to get immediate help in
case of sudden break out of fire or any crimes like theft, robbery, murder or other domestic
violence as well. The Government will be facilitating the construction of housing complexes for
the people (McGregor and Spicer 2016). A project has been taken by under which 22,000 homes
will be constructed. The UNC Health Care has looked after the deprivation of people in the
medical and the health facilities. They have set up a 25,000 sq, foot medical office with a facility
of about 10 beds to begin with. Many banks and health care centers will also be set up at the
close vicinity of the Chatham residents. Many companies have shown interest in setting their
plants that will also generate good sources of employment for the people. The educational
facilities will also be improved. Government is raising funds and facilitating the construction of
many schools. The construction will start at the later part of this year and it will provide
education to 950 students. The opening will take place in about 18 months or so. Government
will also take measures to control the air and the water pollution. The turbines will be set up in
such a way that the water does not get polluted. Eco friendly engines will be installed in the cars
so that the rate of air pollution can be controlled (Stewart et al. 2016).

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Government Steps and Impact on lives of the Residents
All these measures will have a good impact on the lives of the residents as they will be
able to have a better and improved life. The rate of literacy will increase and this will, in turn,
increase the rate of employment and earning. The child poverty will also get depleted. The
alternative energy resources will surely support the emergence of the green energy but many
local residents fear that these changes will have a negative impact on their natural surroundings.
The open spaces will be used up and the large-scale deforestation will give rise to further health
problems. The water will also get affected. A huge amount of forested land will be destroyed.
The residents fear that the Haw River might get severely affected. Roadways repairing and
constructions will also take place so that people can walk and drive properly without the chances
of accidents. They do not want their natural resources to get destroyed. Hence they want the
Government to improve the condition of Chatham but not at the cost of the natural resources.
They want the Government to take some green initiate that will help in protecting the open
spaces and will help in the process of afforestation as well.
Conclusion
So, it can be concluded that Chatham is really in an alarming condition but it can be
improved with the help of the Government. However, the Government has to make sure that the
developmental activities do not harm the ecological balance of Chatham. The government has to
find out more and more alternative measures so that the developmental activities do not lead to
further chances of pollution. The laws that will be implemented had to be kept under thorough
inspection so that people can actually adhere to them and the criminals can no longer roam
around freely without any far. The development has to be all pervasive and not just superficial.