Wellingborough: What do 'left behind' voters want?

Wellingborough's Queensway estate sits on the town's western fringe. In 2019, it was labelled as "left behind" and two years later was shaken by the killing of 16-year-old Dylan Holliday. As the town gears up for a by-election – taking place after constituents removed Peter Bone as MP – what do people in the area say it needs?

Looking down at the shrine where Dylan was fatally stabbed 13 times in 2021, the Reverend Ben Lewis said the estate was "definitely not an area of no hope".

Known locally as Father Ben, he has been vicar at St Mark's Church in Queensway since 2017 and is well aware his community has been labelled "left behind" – but he is determined it is not left hopeless.

Police said there was no evidence Dylan's death was part of a gang "turf war" and he was not involved in gangs. His 17-year-old killer was convicted of manslaughter in 2022.

But the attack was not the only violence on Queensway's streets.

Father Ben, 45, said a zebra crossing outside St Mark's had seen "two shootings and seven stabbings" in the months leading up to Dylan's death.

"I think violence and criminality can sometimes offer people inclusion where they've been excluded previously," he said.

New CCTV cameras on the estate and high-visibility policing were reassuring but Father Ben wants more to be done.

He said: "We need programmes of intervention well before kids are even tempted to join gangs. Programmes that make them realise that they have got options in life and there are better paths to tread."

One project he hopes will help the community is renewing a bike track on an area of unloved parkland.

He is working with a local prison and North Northamptonshire Council on a scheme that could bring the land back into community ownership and see inmates teaching youngsters skills like mechanics.

It would, he hoped, bring "mentoring and resilience" and be a fitting legacy for Dylan.

And what does Queensway need from its next MP?

He said: "There's lots of amazing people in this area who really work for goodness and really want everyone to thrive, young and old.

"So we really need a community champion that's going to be up to our game and make it happen."

One of those offering hope to young people on the estate is Fiona Lok. She helped set up and now runs the youth club at St Mark's with Adelle Toseland.

Mrs Lok, 45, grew up on Queensway but now lives elsewhere in Wellingborough. She said the area had "come a long way in the last five years" though "there's still a long way to go".

She works in financial services and is a mum to two sons, aged 19 and 16. She started the club eight years ago because there wasn't anywhere for children to go, feel safe and be with their friends.

Her 16-year-old remains wary.

She said: "He still says to me 'I don't want to go out – I don't want to be anywhere where there's crime, where there's gangs, where there's people that are in groups that I don't know'. He wants somewhere to feel safe."

She said: "There needs to be more investment in children's mental health because it just feels like they're being failed."

Nepali translator Mary Roka Magar, 40, converted her garage in Queensway into a food bank during Covid.

She started helping five or six families but now she and other volunteers see more than 90 families.

"I'm a mother of four, I know how difficult it is," she said.

She said they were not only supporting families claiming benefits but struggling workers too.

Mrs Roka added there was a lot of pressure on the food bank and they needed help.

"In the 21st Century people shouldn't be worried about food. That should be the least concern," she added.

A 10-minute walk from St Mark's is Weavers Academy, a 1,300-pupil secondary school serving Queensway and beyond.

Alicia, 16, an A-level student and aspiring psychologist, said the death of former pupil Dylan shocked the community.

She said: "That's when a lot of people realised that we do need to improve the safety around, not necessarily just Wellingborough, just the safety of children in general.

"Sometimes when they leave Weavers... they don't feel as safe.

"I know crime rate is a big thing and I know peers, not necessarily children in school, but older peers – sometimes they can try to be intimidating."

But the student said the school had "an amazing staff support team".

Its drama department was a safe space where she had built confidence and overcome a stutter.

She would like "more focus on children and education", including investment in schools and more "safe spaces".

Wellingborough had "so much potential", she added, "and I think somebody needs to do something with that potential".

Weavers' principal Jon Hunt, 41, said he wanted to enable pupils, parents and the community to dream and be able to be everything that they want to be.

Knife crime, he added, was a safeguarding issue and staff had worked with children to help them identify safe spaces.

He said education was part of the solution and the school provided 60-70 extra curricular activities each week – from swimming to jewellery making – and they helped pupils feel like they belonged.

"Children deserve inspirational learning places," he added. "If we could match our tenacious and creative approach to problem-solving and education with continued investment and capital funding, just imagine what we could achieve."

The by-election will take place on 15 February. Peter Bone was removed as an MP after he was suspended from the House of Commons for six weeks for breaching the MPs code of conduct.