Dear All,

After our email of the other day, the support from the street has very much been of once voice: that the Council must get their act together and manage their temprorary housing properties better where antisocial issues arise.

Here is a random sample of excerpts from emails, and we are still looking for more of you to write to us, so we may pass on the information to the relevant people. (All names and addresses of people are withheld here). Please email us asap and we can get this antisocial issue fixed in our street, once and for all.  The more of us that voice our opinions, the stronger our campaign will be.

Thanks,

BPRA. 

Over the past year or so I have observed a variety of anti-social goings on at number xx (smashed windows, shouting, loud music, racist abuse, even death threats from one particular tenant to the whole street!). I have also been directly affected by endless nights of disrupted sleep. Our bedrooms are at the front of the property, very close to the street, and we find ourselves regularly being disturbed by loud noise and shouting throughout the night. On the night of 17th October 2008, I also had my car windscreen kicked in.

I agree that as a community we should be inclusive and supportive to all of our neighbours, and it is not my intention to lay blame at the feet of any of the 'vulnerable' individuals placed in temporary accommodation at number xx  However, I thoroughly disagree with the Council's assertation that the problems we are facing are 'neighbour disputes'. None of these issues have arisen as a result of poor communication, conflict or disagreements between neighbours. A number of 'vulnerable' people who are being housed in number xx bring along with them their own pre-existing set of difficult problems, and due to the Council's unwillingness to accept responsibility and a duty of care for these individuals by providing a properly risk assessed and well managed service, we as neighbours are having to deal with the fall-out. This is unacceptable!

We strongly believe that the good residents of Brunswick Place (a so-called Conservation Area), should be able to live in peace and have confidence that their street is a nice street.

We are regularly woken up throughout the night from noise on the street, which comes from some of the residents in the temporary housing properties which are on the street. This can often be abusive, threatening or just general bad language & shouting.

Properties on this street can be expensive, as is our council tax and we feel that there are certain buildings & their tenants that are ruining our enjoyment of the area. I therefore believe it is unfair to pay such high prices for certain services and then find we are faced with difficulties from the Temporary Housing department and their tenants.

We have also taken to parking our car on Brunswick Square because we feel it is safer there. We should not have to do this.

I would very much like to see the Temporary housing people taking full responsibility for their properties and their tennants. If this means installing CCTV and 24 hour security staff then this should happen. I do not think it is right to let a couple of buildings on this street ruin it for everyone else who have worked extremely hard to buy or rent their property and yet have to suffer the antisocial behaviour of other residents who are housed in the temporary housing buildings.

***

I was visited several times by the police for break-ins relating to NoYY and there was a never-ending stream of people in an and out of the building at all hours of day and night, (drug dealing?) people leaning out of windows screaming down the street, one time I found a man lurking in the well of the building to the rear of AA who claimed he had locked himself out or YY thought he appeared to checking out which properties were had potential to break in to.

Apparently NoYY is some kind of rehousing project. If i remember correctly that the building is owned by a university or the council but I could be wrong.

My brother lives in Farman Street around the corner and has similar problems with drug dealing, noise, drunks and people urinating in the street etc. He has teamed up with his neighbours for several years now but it takes a lot of effort and persitance to get the council to act.

Dont give up. Perhaps joining forces with the residents of Brunswick Square and LARA may help as they may have similar issues in thier streets and the more voices that are heard hopefully things will change for the better. You will also be have access to a larger database of email addresses to spread the word.