We visited borough’s ‘loneliest’ town to find out why people feel so isolated

Isolation and loneliness are by no means new issues in Sandwell but the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns really dragged the problem to the surface.

The most recent study by Sandwell Council made for sombre reading with Tipton ranking the highest for residents saying they always, often, or sometimes felt lonely.

The overall picture is no different with, as it seemingly always is, the elderly, frail, disadvantaged and deprived who feel it the worst.

Those who were most likely to say they felt lonely or isolated often, always or some of the time were those aged 75 years old and above (24 per cent), those with a physical or mental health condition (32 per cent), living in Tipton (30 per cent), long-term sick (46 per cent) and not working (43 per cent).

I visited the town’s main shopping centre off Owen Street to see if the people of Tipton were really as lonely as the survey makes out.

First impressions were far from promising with only a smattering of people in the square making it look a lonely place without even really trying. The majority of the tired-looking shopping centre is covered with metal shutters or ‘for rent’ signs and the handful of nail salons, barbershops, takeaways and off-licences are among the few signs of life.

While the rows of cars and traffic are ceaseless along Owen Street, which goes right through the heart of the town centre, there are very few people stopping and getting out.

The town centre was promised a huge makeover as part of £20m levelling up money from the government – with Sandwell Council’s plans to demolish the ageing shopping parade in Union Street for new council houses starting to come to fruition.

Budget issues, it is said, meant that a planned revamp of the shops in Owen Street was scrapped and that could have been where it is most needed according to some.

Mavis, 78, was born and bred in Tipton, and was as proud as can be to be still able to get around. She was the first person I spoke to and while happy to say she was far from lonely, she said it would be easy to imagine how hard it is for others.

“I come to use the post office and pick up a few things but there’s not much else to come down here for now,” she admitted. “I can still get about on the bus so I can go and see my sister and my grandchildren. I wouldn’t say I’m lonely, no, I can’t say I am but you can’t say that for everyone can you?

“I’m alright on my own but I bet other folk don’t get about like they used to. I see some of the same faces now and again but I suppose that happens not so much. There are lots of reason that people stay in, I suppose people might feel safer to come out if there was no drug dealing or if there was something to actually come out for.”

I asked Tommy Glover, who was waiting for the bus in Owen Street, what he thought of the survey’s findings.

“Everyone probably feels lonely now and again,” he said. “You do worry a lot about the older generations, especially if they struggle to get about. But it’s everyone probably isn’t it? Adults, kids, they can all feel it. If you can’t get out, you are going to feel trapped and lonely. It’s a horrible feeling.”

I asked everybody whether they felt there was still a strong community in Tipton and if that had eroded, is that why people felt so lonely? Did they think that if the investment was made to improve Tipton and this attracted more people to the area, would everyone feel less lonely in a stronger community?

Mr Glover told me it probably would and that was echoed by Kathy Byrne, a carer of 20 years, who said loneliness among the borough’s elderly was definitely a problem.

“I’ve worked everywhere around here, Tipton, Wednesbury, and other parts of the Black Country and you can see it when you go in some of the houses,” she said. “You hear it everywhere from lots of carers, they go in every day, sometimes a few times a day, and you are the only contact those people have. It’s such a shame. I’ve worked in Tipton for a while now, I wouldn’t say it’s any different to anywhere else but it’s definitely a problem. The ones that can get about, on the bus or walking or even in the car, do they want to go out around here?”

Loneliness and social isolation in the borough will be part of a discussion by Sandwell Council’s health and adult social care scrutiny board at a meeting on March 11.