When it was first created in the late 1960s, the sprawling Ford estate just outside Birkenhead was considered "ultra modern."
Up to 8,000 people were housed in its high-rise blocks and houses. But like so many similar estates around the country, it soon became a byword for deprivation, drug abuse, and anti-social behaviour, despite the pockets of community pride that existed.
Eventually, the four high-rise blocks which dominated the skyline were demolished, the houses were substantially rebuilt or refurbished, while the estate itself was re-branded "Beechwood." The Ford estate was originally created to house people moving from the North End of Birkenhead, with the aim of providing a better standard of living.
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The land had formerly comprised a collection of cottages beside the ford over the Fender river, but the hamlet was swallowed up to make way for the estate in the 1960s. However almost as soon as it was built, there was concern about a lack of facilities for young people.
In an ECHO report from September 7, 1972, one community association member spoke about the early days of the estate: "There was a tremendous amount of vandalism at the time. New houses were constantly being damaged and large gangs roamed around quite freely at night."
The problems were exacerbated by the estate's isolated position, on the edge of the M53. The Ford was made up of avenues, like the American system, and they were numbered one to eight.
In October 1981, The Observer Magazine published a feature called "The Writing on the Wall" about the Ford estate, at a time when it was described as "one of the toughest estates on the Wirral". It painted a bleak picture of heroin addiction, and of a failed and failing community spiralling into decline.
But it's also fair to say this was not everyone's experience of living there, and many people have fond memories of the estate as it once was. Today many of the homes are privately owned and others are rented from different housing associations. It is still considered to be in one of the most deprived areas in the UK.
When the ECHO visited the estate in December 2020, following a spate of criminal incidents, one resident, Angela, spoke about how the estate had changed over the years.
She had lived on the estate when it was first built in 1968 with her family and moved back to the area decades later. One thing that was clear from speaking to Angela was how close the community is on the estate and how people looked out for one another.
She told the ECHO: "I lived here when it was first built in 1968 and I moved off. We just had a mobile van going around then, no shops.
"I moved back in 1993. It is a good community, everyone knows everyone. If something happens and you say something to someone they'll find out for you like when dogs go missing or if kids go missing.
"I think it's just bad publicity and things that get put up on Facebook."
