Gosport's Rowner Estate

For 25 years, Gosport’s Rowner Estate has been a point of contention, and after much deliberation demolition has begun and residents are leaving through choice or eviction. Built in the 1960s by the Ministry of Defence to house service personnel, the estate was later purchased privately during the 1980s housing boom. Since privatization, the area has had a very low level of financial investment, and in the 1990s the estate’s community slumped to its worst, with certain public services refusing to enter. As residents met increased annual maintenance payments, the owners were reluctant to spend money on the upkeep of the now decaying estate as they felt any development would be met with vandalism. Residents could only watch as the material and social fabric of the area fell apart. With its history of intravenous drug users and violence, the estate is still viewed with distaste by the surrounding communities, and not many outsiders venture within the concrete precinct at the heart of the estate.