Dear Sir,
You asked me to justify my reasons for bringing attention to this area. We hold a residents’ meeting every second Wednesday of each month but residents are afraid to attend as they have been called ‘grasses’ and had their houses ‘Egged’ and windows broken with abuse shouted at them.
Father Christmas was pelted with beer cans and a youngster brandished a machete in the street. We have drunken brawls, drug raids which have been much more frequent over the past few months.
There are many, many good and caring people in this area but there are quite a lot of people who couldn’t care less, allowing their gardens to be untidy and their children/young people to run wild and cause aggravation to residents. There has been no money spent on the immediate Williamfield area for three years. The County Councillors may have spent money in the West Ward but not Williamfield.
I would like it known I DID NOT LABEL THIS AREA “SHAMELESS” likening it to a TV. SHOW – THIS WAS A LOCAL RESIDENT. As Chairperson of Williamfield Residents group I receive complaints from people regarding the untidiness, anti social behaviour in the immediate area.
I have always passed the complaints on but for the last two years the area has just declined. People have moved out and houses have remained empty and until recently LIVIN have been unable to let these houses. Now that there is a permanent housing/community officer from LIVIN who is accessible and helpful, things are gradually going to change.
If more attention had been given to the area and it hadn’t been allowed to deteriorate to the extent it has and action had been taken by the County Council on properties belonging to private landlords, there would have been no need for me to take action.
I can assure you all that if this area is not brought back to the same standard as other areas of the town I will have no hesitation to continue my protest.
There was going to be a Day Of Action organised towards the end of May but this has been cancelled because the Fire Service could not attend. Surely it could have gone ahead and then people would maybe realise the partners, who could make a difference, really meant it.
Dorothy Bowman