Environmental Problems And Social Deprivation In Chatham, Kent

Water Pollution

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).

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).

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.

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.

Air Pollution

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).

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 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.

Low Income and Social Deprivation

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 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.

Housing Facilities

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 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 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.

High Rates of Crime in Chatham

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 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).

Conclusion

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. All classes of people must be benefitted from the developmental measure. People must be given equal opportunities in terms of education and employment and health opportunities as well.

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