Family with 22 members living on the SAME high rise estate in Stockport reveal they’ve grown used to seeing drug abuse, vandalism and even KNIFE attacks – but insist they wouldn’t live anywhere else
- Sisters Laura Benfold and Leanne Woodfin live in the same tower block
- Their mother Christina also lives on the same estate where they grew up
- Leanne’s husband also has his four siblings close by with their children
- Leanne and Laura have eight children between them and they all play together
- Extended families share a close bond and often visit Christina’s for sleepovers
- Laura said drugs and violence are a factor – but wouldn’t live elsewhere
Members of a 22-strong extended family all living on the same tower block estate have said they wouldn’t live anywhere else – despite frequently witnessing drug abuse and even knife crime.
The Benfolds and the Woodfins, who appeared in the Channel 5 documentary Tower Block Kids on Monday night, say they love being in such close proximity to their relatives, which means they get to ‘do everything together’.
Mother-of-four Laura Benfold, whose sister Laura Williams lives in the same Stockport estate with her own four children, said she likes the area for it’s ‘closed in’ feel.
But her sister Laura was candid about the dark side of life on the estate, revealing her fears over her children being exposed to ‘drug abusers’, men urinating in stairwells, and doors being kicked in.
And Laura’s 11-year-old son Kyle recalls narrowly escaping being hit by a motorcycle by his home, as the driver tried to flee a knife-wielding attacker.
Leanne and Laura’s mother Christina has a ground floor flat in one of the tower blocks on the estate and her eight grandchildren are regular visitors, as they don’t have their own garden to play in they cherish hers
Hanover and Pendlebury towers in Stockport are landmark housing block in the area close to part of the M60 motorway on Lancashire Hill, in Greater Manchester
Speaking on the programme, Laura said: ‘There is a lot of damage [on the estate], the doors on the landing get broke a lot from people kicking them.
‘You see a lot of people who are drug abusers, you’ll see a lot of them on the flats.
‘Going down the stairwell you’ll get a lot of people who can’t be bothered going to the toilet so they’ll do it on the stairs.
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‘Your kid shouldn’t have to be subject to that situation.’
Laura’s only son Kyle, 11, who lives with his parents and his sisters Chloe, Millie and baby Piper, said he’d had a harrowing experience in the park by their flat – one that could have seen him killed.
He explains: ‘I almost got run over by a motorbike near the park, some guy was chasing ’em with a knife.’
Laura’s son Kyle, 11, tells the cameras in Channel 5’s Tower Block Kids how he doesn’t feel safe in the area after being nearly knocked down by a man on a motorbike fleeing from a knife-wielding attacker
Leanne Benfold (left) and her daughter Lexi, 11, with grandmother Christine, are part of the same family who all live in the same high rise council estate in Stockport, Greater Manchester
Mother-of-four Leanne Benfold said that there are often police cars and ambulances seen in the area adding the estate has a bit of a reputation which she believes is to be expected with 3,000 people living there
The Benfolds live in a three bedroom flat with mum and dad in one room, her children Jordan, 15 (not pictured above), and Lexie, 11, in another and Harley, nine, and little brother Kyron, six, in the other
Leanne said that although she is concerned about her children’s safety on the estate, its problems are a side effect of the sheer volume of people living in such a small area.
LEANNE AND LAURA’S EXTENDED FAMILY
Leanne Benfold and Laura Williams are sisters.
Their mother Christina lives in the same Stockport estate.
Leanne is mother to Jordan, 15, Lexie, 11, Harley, nine, and Kyron, six.
Laura is mother to Kyle, 11, Chloe, Millie and baby Piper.
Leanne’s husband also has two sisters Donna and Julie and two brothers who live in the tower blocks with their children.
She said: ‘The estate does have a reputation and you do have the odd bits [of violence], and you do see police cars and ambulances and you do see fights.
‘There’s 3,000 people here – there are going to be people like that, you are going to see things like that, you can’t expect there not to be.’
Despite her concerns Laura said that she has no plans to leave as there is nowhere she would rather be.
She added: ‘It’s alright, it’s what you make it. I’ve lived round here for 20 years and I love it and couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.’
The Benfolds are squashed into a three bedroom flat with mum and dad in one room, Leanne’s children Jordan, 15, and Lexie, 11, in another and Harley, nine, and little brother Kyron, six, in the other.
To get a break they often visit Laura and Leanne’s mother Christina, who has a ground floor flat and a garden that offers a haven of outdoor space for her many grandchildren.
The grandkids often enjoy a sleepover at grandma Christine’s flat where she has squeezed in enough bed in one room so all eight of them can stay while she babysits
She welcomes the brood and regularly babysits for her grandchildren, having set up a room with a bunk bed, a double bed and a single bed for them all to have sleepovers in.
Christina recalled moving on to the estate when Leanne was around 11 – the same age her own daughter, Lexi is now.
Leanne said: ‘It was weird because we were used to living in houses and then we had to get used to everything on one level.
‘Whereas [now] it’d be different if we moved into a house, as you’d have to get used to going upstairs to the toilet every time,’ she joked.
Tower Block Kids is available to watch on Channel 5 online player now
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