We have been advised by Rawreth Parish Council as follows:
We have been notified that on Wednesday of last week a substantial amount of telecommunications cabling was stolen from Old London Road Rawreth, around the areas between the pedestrian underpass and the Chichester. BT Open Reach replaced the cabling on Thursday, only for it it be stolen again later that day. A worker from Open Reach spoke to a local resident and estimated the cost at around ?30,000. Not only is this a substantial theft, but great inconvenience has been caused to local residents and local businesses as far as Shotgate who were without telephone and computer lines for a number of days.
Could you please be extra vigilant and if you see any vans in or around the Parish that appear to be doing any type of utilities work, take note of what they are doing, and take registration numbers if you can. Most utility company vans such as BT will also show their logo, if the vans are unmarked, or you are at all suspicious contact the police. Likewise if you have any information about these thefts contact Rayleigh Police.
On another note there has also been a substantial amount of damage done to the windows of St Nicholas School. All the windows to the entrance, including the door have been broken by stones/rocks being thrown at them. Again could we please ask you to be extra vigilant and report anything suspicious or anyone acting suspiciously to Rayleigh Police.
The skateboard park and ASDA are to blame for the problems the school and residents in the locale are experiencing. Without these two, there would be no reason for youngsters to visit this area. We have witnessed gangs of youths in the ASDA smoking shelter which are not moved on by staff – who join them to have their break. We have called the Police several times over gangs of youths drinking in the shelter. Either the Police do not attend or they attend hours later when the gang has moved on. In the 3 1/2 years I have lived on this development I can count on one hand the number of police vehicles I have seen on Priory Chase. What will it be like once the football pitches are in situ?
Re: Damage to St Nicholas school.
Sadly you are so right. The skatepark is open 24/7 and youngsters hang around this area long after dark.
The Football pitches will only help to escalate the problem and the potential arrival of a hot food take away courtesy of CORAL will further encorage youngsters to hang around and more anti-social behaviour will follow…
I too frequently see Youngsters using the ASDA staff smoking shelter and I have never seen them challenged by Staff and told to move on.
There is no security to speak of at the ASDA store. The pensioner who acts as a “meet and greet” person at the store is hardly a deterrant to young agile shop lifters and I’d be suprised if he would have the nerve to challenge anybody. There have been several reports of broken ASDA security tags from Spirit bottles found in the adjacent Sweyne Park.
I have also see kids intimidating shoppers and cash point users by their anti-social behaviour and they are not moved on. There was even a Beggar sitting on the floor outside the doors last week.
I have seen only ever seen one Police officer around here and he was investigating a burgalry at a neighbours house.
RDC have an awful lot to answer for…
But surely the skatepark also serves a very useful purpose too? Only recently there were several comments here about facilities (or lack of) for young people.
This will be an interesting question for the local police and the district council, is there a long term plan for these two entities to stop the rot in Rayleigh or are they just going to repeat the lines of how safe and crime free we are in this town? This town may still be ‘relatively’ safe when compared to London boroughs but it wont take very long to take hold here if the police do not make examples of trouble makers, such as this lad from Peckham, who stabbed the young man, in King George Field. Does anyone know if he was remanded or let out on bail?
I asked for a skateboard area to be included when the leisure centre was being designed, amd I make no apology for that.
(though whether what I said actually had any impact I don’t know !)
Rayleigh needs more of these facilities , not less, and judging from previous comments so does Wickford and Shotgate.
I agree with the principle of the scateboard area.
But who takes responsibility for it?
There should be someone in charge of it, someone to send the kids home, someone to oversee things. The noise, litter, and damage are all connected to the scateboard park but who is accountable?
Chris, scateboard parks notoriously accompany these sorts of problems. The planning of it is probably flawed. It should be round the back of the leisure centre out of view of the houses and preferably fenced off so it can be closed at night.
Here Here David.
Being a mother to a local teenager myself I realise the total lack of facilities for them when they have little or no money and no where to go either. Yes, she is trying to get herself a weekend job, but with the present conditions it seems that local employers are not taking on any more students either.
CCR
I am NOT against the Skate Park facility Chris!
BUT it should be managed responsibly i.e closed at night and should be checked regularly by someone during the day – even if it is a member of staff from the Leisure Centre.
If the football pitches are not enclosed and closed when not in use and at night the problems here will only get worse. As I said we are sleep walking into a real problem here. I agree with Mike if the Police don’t get a grip of the trouble makers in Rayleigh (whether visitors or not is irrelevant) than the problems will only get worse!!
I can’t remember where I heard it from now, but some time ago, prior to the opening of the leisure centre I was informed that the leisure centre was going to be taking responsibility for this. Off course this is in the day when it was an Esporta gym, so things could have changed since Virgin took over.
This area should be properly managed – poor or inadequate management of this facility will lead to vandalism that could result in injury. Ultimataly the leisure centre is only managed by Virgin and the ultimate responsibility of the leisure centre and indeed the Skateboard park lies with the council, and it is high time the council woke up and started looking at facilities for our youth.
One thing to consider, is that more skateboard parks, or indeed sport fields are not the answer. Not every teenager is into sport.
Here’s proof that I should have proof read before posting – I was off course stating that the leisure centre was supposed to be taking responsibility for the skateboard park….
TWR, thanks for your support, We need to show the type of people who come to our town and expect to intimidate the young and not so young how they can intimidate us will find that we can hit back. These thugs will only survive if we let them.
Can the judiciary or the Police let us know what has happened to the lad who stabbed
the youngster in King George playing field turned out! Not so far!!
We as a community do not want to live in a community who lives in fear of these people. We need to hit back (if the police and district council have no apetite for the the fight) we do, anyway I do.
What are the police and what are the district council doing to ensure we are sleeping in our beds????
A few last questions for the “defenders of our LIVES” What are you doing to protect us as citizens of this town. You do know what type of people are moving in to this town, so what are you doing to protect my and other peoples children?.
I have a problem that our protectors do not have the capacity or the the will to protect the people who live in this area.
With regard to the stolen cables. My workplace in shotgate was affected amongst many others. The information that is being passed around is that places in Canvey and Laindon where also affected. This appears to have been a very well co ordinated crime as it all happened around the same time by people appearing to be legitimate telecommunications workers.
Mike, what do you mean by type of people moving into our town????? The comment needs clarifying as certain people may take it other than how it is intended.
My last few comments may be dramatic, however cast your minds back eight or nine years, did we have the same problems in Rayleigh as we do now? Cast your minds back four or five years, we still did not have problems to this extent. Our problems have gradually got worse but seem to have taken the police and our local authority by surprise. We still get the usual answers, that we live in a reasonably crime free town. That we have enough police to protect us. That we do not have problems.
What about the drug culture that is stopping local residents going out on a Friday or Saturday night. What about the anti-social behaviour that is blighting the town centre and surrounding area. What about the yobs that congregate on Rayleigh train station, the knife incidents and gun incidents and the unsettling elements that are moving into our town
It is not good enough for us just to say we are no different from other towns. I would really like the local police together with the District Council to state what their plan is to rid this town of these problems. Do we need more police, do we need more stop and search, do we need more covert policing.
We need something to come out of the people who are charged with making our lives safe because whatever words come out of the local or county police chiefs regarding our ‘crim free town’ just does not wash.
Police and District Council, over to you!
Angelina, To clarify my comments, my observations come from various sources. Myself by keeping my eyes open, newspapers and more talking to cab drivers. I use taxis frequently and you would be amazed by what they see. I wrote a little way back about a taxi driver who had a frequent customer who had recently moved to Rayleigh and made frequent drop-offs at houses. The taxi driver dropped the customer when he found out what the drop-offs were.
We are a reasonably well off town with many commuters, it is a drug dealers dream to move here and take over the place. My comments where not directed at all new residents, however there are elements who have moved in and are not concerned working and leading a decent life more like leading our children astray.
Mike, following on from your comment, I do9n’t have any real knowledge of operational plans.
But the District Council’s Crime and Disorder Reduction strategy can be downloaded at
http://www.rochford.gov.uk/PDF/plans_and_strategies_crime_disorder_reduction_strategy.pdf – all 2.6 mb of it
Looking at http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/4507345.Knife_crime_drops_among_teens_across_Essex/ it seems that knife crime overall in Essex has been going down, though the number of murders involving a stabbing has gone up from 3 in a year to 6 in a year.
Chris, the numbers that you give are very good, relatively, however we have been and will continue to be on an upward trend over the near future unless the police have a robust long term plan. And not only the police, unless the parents buy into what could become a major problem here. I remember moving into Rayleigh in 2001, I would not have had any concerns then about walking home from the station at any time of the day or night, now I am concerned.
One last point Chris, it is not so much about the crime that gets reported and goes into the statistics, more about the amount of crime that does not get reported formally and does not go into the stats. The example that I commented on a couple of halloween nights ago. Walking home from the station through Bardfield Way, a young lad, no older than 11 or 12 ran out in front of me, threw a bucket of grease, oil and leftover chinese food over me. Ruined a suit, a shirt and tie and shoes. Three hundred pounds worth of clothes. When I rang Rayleigh police station to find out if it was worth me coming up to the station to report the incident, the station sargeant said “if I felt that strongly” about it then I could come to the station and make a statement but there was no one who could see me for several hours. Did not waste my time going to the station for a statement that would just get filed away.
How many people have seen a crime but not reported it??
Mike, Thank you. We do live in an area where most people are hard working and busy with their families so that the kind of people you describe would find it easy to go about their business without anyone noticing.
Chris, I have just looked at the the crime reduction strategy that you gave a link to. The years that this strategy covered were 2005 to 2008. As we are now in 2009 it would be a good time for RDC and the police to let the residents of Rochford know how successful the strategy was.Maybe they can enlighten us at the next West Area Committee meeting?