Looking at my local area it is easy to gain perspective on the positive and affirmative aspects such as the gentrification of Tooting Market and the diversity of it residents and their religions and cultures. Recently being dubbed as ‘Captivating’ by the creators of ‘Lonely Planet’, Tooting Bec was named one of the best neighbourhoods in the world in the summer of 2017, joining the ranks of, exotic hotspots in Rio, Seoul and New York. However, under the excitement and jollity of Tooting seeing an “explosion of new bars and restaurants” over the past year, there is a lot of poverty and deprivation with a lot of progress and work to be done. According to Wandsworth Council the child poverty rate is at 27.32% and poverty at 21.54%, income inequality is relatively high in Wandsworth, where the gap between rich and poor is greater than in 26 out of the other 31 boroughs and premature mortality is among the worst in London. According to Wandsworth Council, “728 out of every 100,000-people aged 55-64 year olds die during this period of their life making Tooting Bec the fourth highest rate in the capital.” An example of the Poverty is the story, covered by the Daily Mail on the 12th September 2017, about a Somali mother and son who have chosen to live on a high street bench for three years after being evicted from their flat in Tooting, London, in 2014 for not paying their rent. Even though the council tried to rehome them they turned down the offer of two-bedroom flats which usually cost £1,500 a month. The date whilst writing this is the 23rd of March 2018 and I have just walked passed, on the way back to Tooting Bec in front of the Library, that exact same mother and son sitting on the exact same bench that they were spotted on the summer before. However, it is not just a constant stream of anguish and poverty, as the community is coming together to provide for their neighbours and improve those unity and quality of life here it Tooting Be, for everyone. There is now a Tooting Foodbank and a chain of different charity that provide for those who are in times of struggle and need. Therefore, in the new future we hope to be an area not just thriving due to it explosion of fancy bars and restaurants but due to the health, education and well-being for everybody who lives there.
