This closely followed a series of events over the past few weeks which came to a head last weekend with a serious public disturbance in Tenth Street.
The first part of the meeting was focused on residents having an opportunity to vent their frustration against what appears to be the lack of a co-ordinated response to local problems. Individual incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour were recalled, accompanied by concerns that many of those incidents appeared to go unrecorded by the police or under-reported by local residents. In addition residents were clear that they believed almost all recent incidents related to either the drugs market and/or to tenants of a number of irresponsible private sector landlords (it should be made clear at this point that the majority of private landlords in our village are seen as respectable and responsible and are prepared to react positively and willingly when community concerns are expressed about their tenants and properties).
As noted in the comments above the incidents reported by members of the public relate almost entirely to residents in properties owned and let by irresponsible absentee landlords and their agents who snapped up properties a few years ago at auction when the Accent housing association pulled out of our village. The key message here was that if we are to get on top of these issues they must first be reported to the relevant agency (for example police, council or neighbourhood wardens) but equally importantly, to maintain public confidence in the system, they must then be accurately recorded and actioned by those authorities. In this regard it was agreed that definitive contact details relating to reporting separate incidents should be made readily available to members of the public to enable them to report each individual incident to the correct agency.
Concerns were also reported about dog fouling, litter, fly-tipping and other environmental issues at specific locations within and around the village and, although they present an integral element of disquiet in the community, we will deal with these matters in a separate post.
The discussion then moved on to seeking solutions. Earlier this week we both met with the Police Commissioner Ron Hogg to seek his advice and support on a way forward. We had also spoken to many other people from other parts of the county who were experiencing the same local issues as those in Blackhall. Our view is quite simple; where there are solutions elsewhere in the county or across the country we should be able to identify those solutions which are most effective and then apply them locally in our own community.
From our earlier discussions it emerged that two options might be considered. The first is an Accredited Landlord Scheme. Although this is discretionary on the part of the landlord it has been proved to be effective in other areas. The second is a mandatory programme called the Selective Licensing Scheme which as the name implies means that all landlords in a particular area must be licensed before they can let a house to prospective tenants. Advice from the council's private sector landlords office last night was that both schemes had advantages and pitfalls and that the establishment of either would depend on evidence and intelligence gathered from the local community. This ties in perfectly with the point raised above about reporting and recording incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour. We have asked that both options remain on the table for further consideration following a time-limited period to allow for local information gathering, though we expressed our personal preference for a Selective Licensing Scheme to be considered if deemed suitable and effective.
One of the main issues raised at the meeting last night was that strong communication is absolutely essential if we are to overcome the local problems created by others. With that in mind it was agreed at our request that in future PACT meetings in Blackhall will be held regularly until we either come out on top or until residents are confident that the authorities have a system in place to at least manage the situation effectively for the benefit of their community.
It was agreed that the next meeting will be held on Thursday 22 March at 7pm. Given the strong turnout from local residents last night concerns were raised about the size of the venue. As a result it was agreed that a more suitable venue be considered to host the next meeting. Once arrangements have been finalised full details will be promoted throughout the community.
Please note that our comments above are intended merely as an account of the main points raised at last night's meeting, and not as a verbatim record of the discussions which took place. Whilst we may have inadvertently missed on or two points we hope that this post helps to at least amplify the main points raised last night which are that the residents of Blackhall have had enough of the all too frequent upheaval in our village, and that they are prepared to organise and stand against it for as long as it takes to come out on top.
As ever, please let us know if you have any additional comments in relation to this matter.
