We visited the Walsall estate dubbed 'Britain's roughest' and found residents terrified for their safety

The video, titled 'I went to "Britain's Roughest Estate" and it was shocking', has been watched more than 336,000 times on the video platform, and names Blakenall among other Walsall areas such as Palfrey and Caldmore.

The Express & Star paid a visit to get the true feel of the estate and its residents.

Walking through the named streets in the video, Dawson Street, Chantry Avenue and Blakenall Row, I didn't feel safe, but I certainly didn't feel like I was walking through the war zone described in the video.

A resident, who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said the area has grown increasingly worse since Covid, saying that gangs of youths are one of the major problems.

The resident, who gave a fake name of Keith, has lived on Dawson Street for more than three years, he said: "It's horrible. It has gotten a lot worse in the last few months. There are groups of youths who are one of the issues.

"The houses down the road there (near the end of Dawson Avenue), they have all sorts of stuff tipped on there. We honestly expected someone to set fire to it on bonfire night.

"It never used to be this bad though to be fair. There are nice people around here, but the bad ones just ruining it I think. I think that police do need to do more."

A common theme in the area is the prominence of youth crime, which has forced people to talk anonymously out of fear of retribution.

Another resident of the street, a mother of two, said her young daughters had become daily targets for bullies and youths, with her saying she often fears for their safety.

The woman, who again wanted to remain anonymous out of fear for her and her family's safety, said: "It's horrible living here. I am already in the process of trying to move. You just can't help but feel scared about what might happen.

"My seven-year-old daughter suffers from her mental health, and the kids here will climb our fence to shout vile stuff to her. We carved pumpkins on Halloween on in an hour they were smashed. Then the kids who did it taunted her about it.

"We are hoping to move soon, but it is just so hard. No one wants to house exchange either because no one wants to move here. It's really hard."

Resident and tradesman, Tom Clewes, said living on the estate isn't as bad as the video makes it seem, but that more needs to be done to tackle youth crime and vacant housing in the area.

Tom Clewes, from the Blakenall estate, said: "It's not as bad as the video makes it. It is bad, but it's not everyone in the area. It's just a few young groups. The thing is that there are a lot of houses here that are wasted, just over the road, there is one that could be done up and sold to a nice family.

"There's land that at the moment has just been used as 'cut-throughs' (escape routes) for youths, they'll smash a window and then disappear. It could be used for housing developments or more shops, It's just wasted. I think the council and police need to do more."

As I was walking through the area, I stepped over fly-tipped rubbish, broken glass and pathways that had fallen into a state of disrepair. However, the residents that I managed to talk to were nothing short of lovely and talked only of wanting to improve the area where they live.

Al Fletcher, who owns the butcher shop, Kirbywood Meats, on Blakenall Lane, added: "I honestly think it's the same as any bad area across the country, London, Liverpool, Birmingham.

"I think that if the council split up 40 people off of this estate, then all the problems would be solved. The majority of the people are lovely people, but it's just that 40.

The area has recently become the focus of several high-profile police incidents, with the estate appearing in the national media in July after the death of seven-year-old Katniss Selezneva, who was sadly killed after being struck by a motorbike on Turnstone Road, Blakenall.

In May 2023, the area was also subjected to a Section 60 dispersal order following an incident on Guild Avenue, Chapel Street and Dawson Street, resulting in a 55-year-old man being stabbed and left in hospital.

The area, as well as portions of Bloxwich, was again subject to police powers on October 19 following an "incident of disorder" where a weapon was discharged and two males were arrested.

Areas of Harden and Coalpool have also been handed a 48-hour Section 35 dispersal order to begin at 4pm on Thursday, after missiles, including bricks and stones were thrown at passing vehicles from inside Ryecroft Cemetery.

Following the announcement of the dispersal order, Walsall local policing area's Phil Upton said: "We can't tolerate this kind of behaviour. Someone will get seriously injured or killed if it continues.

"As well as introducing the section 35 dispersal order which allows us to disperse people engaging in anti-social behaviour we will have an increased presence in the area to offer reassurance to people in the community.

"This kind of behaviour is simply unacceptable and I would appeal to parents to please find out where your child is and what they are doing.

"We need this behaviour to stop. We will also continue to investigate the crimes associated with the issues being caused in the area and will be taking action against anyone involved."

Councillor Mike Bird, leader of Walsall Council, said that the video only highlighted a portion of the area and that the council is working with partner organisations and police to solve the issues.

Councillor Bird said: "Sadly there is always someone that wants to talk down the area. The video is certainly not representative of all those who do live in that area.

"It is disappointing that the journalists wanted to single out this specific area the way they have instead of talking to the individual people on the ground.

"We can say that we are working with the police and partner organisations in the area. But we would ask that if the good folk of Blakenall would come forward with information on these individuals, then we could get this problem sorted."