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Missionaries of the
Sacred Heart
Last Update:
03/04/2010
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Aston in Birmingham - the location for the new
community
Top (L-R): Aston Library, Aston lamps, Aston skyline, Sacred Heart RC Church in Aston,
Bottom (L-R): Aston terraced houses, Aston Villa
football club, the Aston flight on the canal.
Why the Aston Ward (incorporating the neighbourhoods of Aston,
Lozells and Birchfield)?
Read and watch what the BBC-funded project, "My Life in Aston" had to say about
the neighbourhood
here. Be sure to click on the links to the various video clips.
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Aston is situated on the north side of
Birmingham city centre with a neighbourhood population of 27,000
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It is a multi-ethnic neighbourhood with
a relatively even balance between Asian (49.8%), black (20.3%) and white
(23.5%) communities.
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It is a multi-faith neighbourhood –
predominantly Muslim (44.3%) and Christian (32.4%), with a minority Hindu
(2.6%) and Sikh (1.5%) population
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It is a seriously deprived area – the
second most deprived neighbourhood in Birmingham; (the most deprived area doesn’t
have the same ethnic mix as Aston). 88.2% of the population of Aston fall in the
Nation’s top 10% of people living with multiple deprivation. It’s Townsend
Score (which rates the relative deprivation of all the Wards in Birmingham)
is 6.1 – the second highest in Birmingham (The highest is 6.3).
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There is a very high level of
unemployment – at 22.5% the Aston neighbourhood has the highest unemployment
figures of any neighbourhood in Birmingham (the figure for the whole of
Birmingham is 8.9% and the figure for the UK as a whole in the last quarter
of 2005 was 5.0%).
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There is continuous ongoing migration
(Aston is one of the most used neighbourhoods for housing Asylum Seekers and
Refugees; at the same time the Afro-Caribbean community is beginning to
shrink while the Asian community is growing).
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The presence of inter-community conflict
and tension – caused by differences in ethnicity, religion and disputes over
allocation of funding.
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It is an area with significant problems
with drugs, gangs and gun and knife crime.
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It is served by one Catholic parish
(Parish of the Sacred Heart) and one Catholic Primary School (Sacred Heart
Primary School). There are a variety of other Christian churches in the
neighbourhood (Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, United Reformed Church,
Pentecostal Churches, Evangelical Churches and Assemblies of God Churches), and
at least twelve mosques.
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It has three local train stations in the
Ward area and is well served by buses in and out of the city centre.
The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred heart has
purchased a new house on Ettington Road in the centre of
Aston as the home of the Cordate Community. It is on a street
parallel to the Catholic Church and facing one of the Aston Mosques. To see photos
tracing the building of the house,
click here.
The City of Birmingham
Top (L-R): Brindley Place, Aerial view of the
city, the Town Hall, Centenary Square
Bottom (L-R): The Bullring shopping centre and St
Martin's Church, Bullring shopping, Selfridges building
Why have we chosen Birmingham as our preferred city?
Birmingham: fitting
the criteria
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Birmingham is the second city of England, and the second
largest in terms of population after London.
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Birmingham has a city population of 984,600 (in 2001) and an
urban area population of 2,284,093.
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The area covered by the city is 267.8 square Km with a
population density of 3,649 people per square Km (the national average for
England is 377)
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The average age in Birmingham is 36 (compared with a national
average of 38.6)
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29.6% of the city's population are from an ethnic group other
than white (compared with 9.1% for the whole of the UK)
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The city-wide ethnic mix is as follows; white (70.4%), Asian
(12.1%), Black (6.1%), Mixed Race (3.2%), Chinese (0.5%), Other (0.6%).
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In the 2001 Census 59.1% described themselves as Christian,
14.3% as Muslim, 2.9% as Sikh, 2.0% as Hindu, 0.2% as Jewish, 0.3% as Other,
12.4% as of no religion and 8.4% not stated.
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The city-wide unemployment figure currently stands at 8.9%
(March 2006)
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Birmingham is the 15th most deprived local authority out of
354 nationally
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In the fourth quarter of 2005 1,930 Asylum Seekers were being
supported in Birmingham by the National Asylum Support Service
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The Archbishop has been very encouraging of our project and
is delighted that we are coming to work in the city.
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Birmingham is very close to two proximate MSC communities;
Tamworth in Staffordshire (19.8 miles, 31.9 Km) and Princethorpe in
Warwickshire (31.1 miles, 50.1 Km)
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Birmingham is excellently served with train and bus networks
and a major international airport.
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