We’ve had so many comments today that this one from a Downhall Park Way Resident might be overlooked – so we are repeating here, with some photos of what the resident concerned removed from the park.
Litter is normally merely unsightly, in this case the rubbish includes broken glass and sharp edges of metal – dangerous for children and dogs.
(please click on the thumbnails to view them)
Having spent along with other dog walkers over an hour of my dog walk this morning clearing up broken and burnt cans from Sweyne Park I couldn?t agree more that this mindless behaviour needs to be addressed, two bonfires were lit in the park overnight, having spoken to another dog walker the said youths were erecting their camp at 6pm yesterday evening.
I would have thought Saturday night would be a prime time for the park to have a police patrol, how is it that two fires were lit, and a small tent erected without anyone noticing if patrols are on the increase? The said youths had also decided that a good pastime would be to sit on a concrete bunker by the lake and smash bottles against it, the shards of glass were so sharp that any dog would have sliced their paw, let along what a small child would have done had they fallen on it,
This has got to stop, I wouldn?t have even entertained behaving in this manner as a teenager, for one it wouldn?t have entered my head to do it, but secondly I was brought up to respect where I lived, and to respect other peoples property and space, if warnings are not working then maybe the police need to get tougher and looking at the amount of Asda bags amongst the rubbish perhaps they should up the age limit for alcohol sales to at least 25, maybe the threat of the loss of their license would be listened to.
Having recently been told by police that if groups are building up round Asda they are moved towards the park as it is perceived they can do less damage, perhaps this needs to be readdressed and instead of moving them on they are dealt with there and then. The minority are most definitely spoiling this area for the majority and it has to stop.
There are two points I would make here, firstly, Sweyne Park is the property of the Rochford District Council and as such should be patrolled by RDC officials to stop and eject offending youths. I appreciate that such a park would be difficult to lock at night but most public parks are and any intruders can be arrested for trespass.
I believe now is the time for RDC to face up to their responsibilities and take appropriate action to stop the rot. In general it is not the responsibility of the police to patrol parks and I can understand their frustration at having to do so.
Secondly, I do question the police tactics of moving groups of youths towards the park. It is not solving a problem, just moving it to another location. ie the easy option. Years ago in the era of Mods and Rockers, the police in Southend would anticipate the problems and take proactive action to prevent it on most occasions.
One tactic they used was to confiscate the boot laces of suspect youths when the alighted from trains arriving in the town. This had the effect of preventing charging riots etc. as footware had to be removed in order to run.
Perhaps instead of moving our modern day youths from Asda to the park, the police should confiscate their shoes an tell them they can collect them from Rayleigh Police Station the following day. This should also discourage them from breaking bottles.
Do we know the age of these kids? I find it hard to believe that any one over 18 years old would do this, and as you can see in the picture there are Asda bags and beer cans and other alchol bottles. If under 18 years old where could under age kids be getting alchol from ? Not rocket science is it, maybe Asda should be checking for fake ID ?
sorry can’t spell – ment Alcohol.
I understand that Asda has a Challenge 25 policy and so anyone appearing to be under 25 is challenged. I am even aware of 40 year old women being challenged as they look younger and being refused the sale of their bottle of Blossom Hill LOL!!!!
However, a few weekends ago there was a group of local teenagers who were asking customers going into the store to purchase alcohol and cigarettes for them! I did not see anyone offer to do so.
I don’t think the whole of the blame should be put fairly and squarely at Asda’s door – I have been told of teenagers who take alcohol from home out with them and it is possible that they bring it in from other shops in the area too! If Asda were not there there would still be a fair amount of litter so would than mean that other local stores would get as much blame?
Being the mother of a local teenager I am also aware that many youths come in from neighbouring towns to use the skatepark and this could be the root of the problem as well. I saw several groups of them last night leaving the park and walking up Downhall Road towards the station around 11.00 p.m.
This is a problem that we should all be looking to address collectively surely?
There is a problem with shoplifting of alcohol from ASDA which accounts for some of the broken glass in Sweyne Park because the thieves then have to smash the security tags off before the drink can be consumed. An issue that has been reported on this site on more than one occasion.
I know that local teenagers are not necessarily to blame for the anti-social behaviour in this neighbourhood, but the argument for locking up the skate park in the evening is a strong one – which so far has been ignored. No doubt the football pitches will also be open 24/7 which will only make matters worse! But the responsible RDC cabinet members aren’t local so they won’t be concerned by our problems.
I agree with the collective approach to solving issues that means Parents, RDC, Police and local businesses such as ASDA.
This problem also happens on the patch of land behind the Grange Community Centre, this is not just underage drinking it also entails drug abuse. This has been well known for a number of years, however I am yet to hear of the Police actually tackling the youngsters and not so young.
If anyone can put me right on this it would be much appreciated. How long will it be before some youngster overdoses and dies while injecting himself /herself?
If someone from Rayleigh Police or the Council is reading this, could they please comment on what they are doing about this?
….. and yet another, and possibly, the worst case of vandalism at the School in the early hours of Monday morning.
The majority of the glass in the front entrance was totally destroyed including the overhead canopy. This rendered the entrance to the School too dangerous to use on Monday morning!
Surely someome in the surrounding houses must hear these disturbances? If you do please pick up a phone and call the Police as the School is suffering damage on almost a weekly basis at the moment – despite the installation of new tracking CCTV cameras.
There was yet even further damage caused last night (late Monday night).
The police were called.
It stands to reason that when the police or any car enters the end of Priory Close that by the time the car comes into view the youths (committing crime) have disappeared into the park! So doubt if they were caught.
The problem is there are so many youths loitering around due to the park, the skate park and asda, (and soon to be football pitches), they particularly like to use the roundabout ( the one with the graffiti on the wooden post and broken wooden fencing ) outside of the school as a place to hang about, and when youths are just loitering they are not doing anything wrong.
In my view what we need is a council employed youth worker of sorts who has some responsibility to the skate park who can monitor problems like this and have an active role in solving the local problems caused by youths.
Will anyone take up this idea and run with it?
Sorry, the further damage was actually caused last Tuesday night at about 1130pm.
I feel the skatepark should be fenced off and closed at a sensible time of night and then this may encourage the youths to disperse back to whence they came!!
We live at the rear of the school and we don’t hear the disturbance at the front of the school – however we did for the first time hear the alarm go off at the school late on Tuesday (15th) night…As it was an alarm we assumed the Police would be in attendance already…but obviously too late to catch the culprits as Sweyne Park is open 24/7 to aid their escape…
Last night(Wednesday 16th) I had the pleasure of seeing for the first time ever a Police car doing a very brief patrol of Priory Chase and the ASDA car park… As this was during the Champions League Football on TV I didn’t see any youths hanging around…but it’s still good to see the Police finally responding to public pressure. Hope it wasn’t a one off.
One for Cjav – I have noticed an increase in tyre marks around and over the top of the mini-roundabout at the junction of Temple Way/Priory Chase/Leisure Centre – is this as a result of Youths “joy-riding” (I hate that term!)and dangerous driving stunts?
Or are they caused by the bus failing to negotiate the roundabout?
Again we do hear vehicles being driven dangerously in the distance(speeding/skidding etc…) but it is difficult to tell where those noises are coming from without getting out of bed and driving around to investigate!
We have had occasional problems with so called “cruisers” doing “dough-nuts” on MAKRO car-park but usually the noise sounds further away…
TWR, Not joy riders or buses. I witnessed what happened when waiting for a bus. Two very large articulated lorries arrived at the roundabout and stopped, they seemed to be lost. They then drove on further towards the school. After a few minutes they returned and then with great difficulty edged around the roundabout and drove into the sports centre. The turn was so tight for them that the tyres were being dragged sideways. As it was a hot day, I thought the tarmac had been ripped but on closer inspection it appeared to be only deposited rubber.
In the defence of the police, for the last couple of years I have seen them numerous times. They usually drive up to the school, turn around, park up, get out and walk over to the skate park. However they can’t be here 24/7 or anywhere near often enough time to oversee general youth problems.
Of course the regular and constant damage to the school is a different matter and police most definitely have to step in.
But on a day to day basis we need someone to be responsible for the skate park and associated youths.
With Greenbelt on this one – the rubber markings are being caused by the traffic for those much wanted football pitches (sarcastic? – me? – never!)
Have upon returning home from my holiday discovered another type of vandalism – my sister (who is currently staying with me) has had to shoo away very young children (about 4 – 5 years of age) who have taken it upon themselves to use my front garden as their local florists. Where are the parents and why are they allowing their children to commit criminal damage and trespass?