The district of Ladybarn is hard to define. The statutory agencies appear to have difficulty in recognising Ladybarn as a community. It is postally located in Fallowfield, Manchester whilst at the same time falls within the Withington parliamentary constituency and the Withington council ward. Many boundaries within the statutory sector are not co-terminus which causes problems when analysing statistical data in an effort to identify need.

The Ladybarn area comprises of a mixture of 5,500+, 1930s council properties and pre-war private dwellings, south of the City of Manchester and includes the council estate known as the Welsh Estate. There is little or no industry, localised shopping facilities and much hidden deprivation.

The area served by the Ladybarn Community Association is that bounded by Wilmslow Road, Moseley Road, Kingsway, Mauldeth Road, Parsonage Road and Parrswood Road. The B5093 Wilmslow Road and the A34 Kingsway are both major arterial routes south of the City of Manchester, with the B5093 Wilmslow Road forming part of the Manchester Intermediate ring road. The district is co-terminus with the C3 Q1 beat of Greater Manchester Police. In crime terms this particular area suffers from extremely high levels of burglary, robbery and theft from the person. Indeed, the Home Office identified the beat as a problem when allocating resources as part of their Burglary Reduction programme.

The area is largely residential with a population of approximately 13,000, which fluctuates seasonally in line with the academic calendar. The properties within the area can be grouped into council dwellings, private rented multi-occupancy accommodation, student halls of residence, private accommodation and elderly residential care. As a consequence of the high levels of student occupancy much of the population is transient, which leads to great difficulties when trying to establish community activity.

In the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000 Fallowfield is ranked 806 out of 8,414 wards in England placing it in the top 10% of the most deprived wards (Department for Education, Transport and the Regions Planning Studies, August 2000). In arriving at these figures the DETR studied a number of areas of deprivation i.e. :

v      Employment

v      Income

v      Health & Disability

v      Education, Skills & Training

v      Housing

v      Geographical Access to Services 

Figures complied for the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004 continue to show Fallowfield ranking highly.  A number of the Super Output Areas, which make up the electoral ward, are falling within the top 2% of most deprived areas in the country.  In particular when considering the Child Poverty Index certain areas are falling within the top 1% of most deprived.  As Ladybarn Community Centre is situated within the Manchester Withington Constituency, these hidden pockets of deprivation are often overlooked when considering the constituency as a whole.

Over the period 1 January 2001 to 31st December 2001, out of 1,007 incidents in Ladybarn reported to the police, 478 (48%) related to juvenile nuisance. Furthermore, out of 1,546 reported crimes, 391 (25%) were burglaries, 477 (31%) theft from/damage to a motor vehicle and 225 (15%) robbery/theft from a person.

When considered within the Fallowfield postal district, the area can be identified as one of high deprivation with high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour. Conversely, when similarly considered within the Withington parliamentary constituency, itself seen as one of the more affluent areas of South Manchester, Ladybarn with its poorer quarters misses out on many national and European funding initiatives.

Local community space is limited to Ladybarn Community Centre, a small room within Ladybarn Methodist Church and Mauldeth Road Primary School.

It is within this context of relative disadvantage adjacent to a more affluent environment, and one in which there is both geographical and social isolation, that Ladybarn Community Association operates.