Inside the 'ghost town' estate that was once a bustling community but has now been 'left to rot'

A housing estate that was once a 'bustling community' has now been dubbed a 'ghost town' by nearby residents after the site has been 'left to rot'. Hospital Close, in Evington, Leicester, was initially built for NHS staff who lived there with their families, but it has since been left derelict after they moved out in 2019.

The abandoned site has now become a magnet for fly-tippers and locals living nearby say drug addicts and vandals are now blighting the area and making them feel unsafe in their own homes.

Residents living on the graffiti-riddled estate left four years ago after the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust decided it could not afford to maintain the homes or upgrade them to modern standards.

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The Trust issued eviction notices to hospital staff and health workers, including many nurses, and those living in the properties were then given just three months to find somewhere new to live.

Since then, locals living on surrounding streets say they have been "forgotten about" as the estate has also now become a hotspot for fly-tipping and other antisocial behaviour.

Ashley Lewis, 32, who lives on a neighbouring road, said: "It's quite spooky to be honest, it's a complete ghost town now. It used to be a thriving little community of NHS staff and their families. It's gone from having these angels and life-savers to drug dealers and thugs.

"As people know its derelict you get people using and selling drugs, boy racers using it as a track and I don't even walk over that way anymore. The fly-tipping is just constant, one thing will get dumped and once that's cleared another load will replace it. It's just