Overview Flaxley Road
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Building
A Vibrant Christian Community
Flaxley Road
An Overview of the Flaxley Road area
Selby
Is a small market town of around 20,000 people in the Vale of York. In many ways it is a town of two halves: people have above average incomes over-all, but with two 'council' estates with reasonably high levels of deprivation, especially for North Yorkshire. With the decline of local industries and the coal mines, it serves to a large extent as a dormitory town for Leeds (20 miles to the West) and York (15 miles to the North). Demographically it is almost entirely white, with a significant minority of Polish people.
Flaxley Road estate
The estate is made up of a mixture of housing, much of it social housing, built at different periods through the 20th Century – around half live in rented accommodation. Most are traditional working class people. It is area of social need, being one of the three most deprived estates in North Yorkshire. A walk through the estate would not show much deprivation; no boarded up homes or burnt out cars. But the poverty is found in a lack of ability to keep good relationships, a lack of parenting skills, significant levels of unemployment and a lack of purposeful activity, low educational achievement, poor money skills – Selby has some of the highest debt for a small town in the UK. It is in the country's worst 4% for child poverty; over 63% of children live in low-income families. The Indices of Multiple Deprivation put it in the country's most deprived 25%. It has the highest levels of domestic abuse in North Yorkshire.
People
People who seek to make the best of their lives; those who care deeply for their families; people who seek to live life to the full. There is spontaneity and people can often be warm in their relating. There has never been a church on the estate, and previously little or no Christian witness. There is little obvious interest or attraction to Christian faith.