Calls to relocate rehab facility
Plea after anti-social behaviour claims:
BUSINESS owners and a MP are calling for a rehabilitation facility to be moved out of a town centre, claiming it is damaging local businesses.
Jamie Wallis, MP for Bridgend, said he has received multiple complaints from business owners about visitors to the Dyfodol centre on Market Street, Bridgend.
He said “there have been issues for a while” with the centre, which supports people in the criminal justice system with drug and alcohol issues.
However, the problems have become “a lot worse” during the pandemic,” the Conservative politician said.
Mr Wallis said the current coronavirus guidelines mean service users are having to queue outside Dyfodol to receive treatment, which is affecting the footfall and passing trade of nearby businesses.
“There’s been friction caused as a result of the users being in close proximity to where customers would enter and leave shops.
“When you’re walking down the street you do see large numbers of people congregating in a particular area looking to get treatment for addiction.
“That will have an impact on whether someone chooses to go down that street on that day or not and it has an impact on footfall.”
Dyfodol provides drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment to locals and is run by Welsh charities and private company G4S.
The service is commissioned by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and has been based on Market Street for over a decade.
Fleur Real, who owns Clippaz barbershop, located next door to Dyfodol, said there have been multiple issues among the service users throughout the 10 years she has had her business.
“There have been lots of issues. There’s been fighting outside. We’ve had ambulances there quite often, police cars.
“My customers don’t feel very comfortable walking past them because you’ve got to walk past the centre to get to my shop.
“The language is terrible. No-one wants to be walking past a group of people who are effing and blinding.
“Sometimes if a fight breaks out and I’ve got elderly families or clients who’ve come into the shop, it kind of puts customers off coming for a haircut because they know they’re going to have to pass these people.
“I appreciate they have to have the service and these people have got illnesses and they do need help. I just think they need to find somewhere a bit more appropriate rather than in a town centre.
Miss Real said a fight broke out between two of the service users while they were outside the centre two years ago. She said they tumbled into her shop and her customers had to usher them away.
“My customers had to get up out of their chairs and my staff and try to push these two boys back out on to the road.
“It is quite frightening. My customers could end up getting hurt if they get caught in a fight.
“Luckily most of them are men and most of them are quite strong but it’s scary for my staff.
“My staff have felt a bit nervous in the recent years. My staff are quite young, about 20 and 21, so they do feel a little bit nervous.
“Sometimes they hate it with all them next door because they kick off and I get a little bit scared.
“I’ve said ‘If it ever happens, you lock the door and just phone the police straight away’.”
Miss Real wants the centre to be relocated in order to avoid any possible clashes between her clients and the service users.
“We’ve had issues on the street for ages. It’s worse for me in the pandemic because we’re on an appointment basis.
“If I run over on a client then the next one has to wait outside and I don’t really feel comfortable with my customers waiting outside when all that’s going on just in case they kick off or something happens.
“I have youngsters, families and elderly people who come to me and I just feel it would be better for me once they’ve been allocated somewhere else because I won’t have the disruptions anymore.”
Miss Real said the staff at the Dyfodol have been helpful when such incidents have taken place and she thinks they are “stuck between a rock and a hard place” in terms of relocating the service.
“Where can you put the centre where it’s not going to affect other businesses and people in that area?
“It’s a difficult situation because they do need the help at the end of the day.”
Mr Wallis met with local business owners and representatives from G4S and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to discuss moving the centre.
He said there is “an agreement in principle to try and find a more suitable location” for the Dyfodol.
Mr Wallis raised the issue in Parliament on Wednesday, February 3, when he asked MP Lucy Frazer, Minister for Prisons and Probation, to meet him and discuss the relocation of Dyfodol.
She replied: “We are aware that there have been some difficulties with the building in Bridgend, and we are working with the local community, via the commissioned services to which my honorable friend refers, to find an alternative location.
“I know that he has discussed the issue with his Dyfodol partners, and I am happy to have a meeting to discuss it further.”
A spokesperson for G4S said the staff who work at Dyfodol – a mixture of doctors, nurses and caseworkers – have all “worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to keep providing this vital service to the community”.
They said the number of visitors allowed in the building has been reduced to allow for social distancing and so the service is operating “with staggered appointment times and remote appointments where possible”.
They added: “Ensuring a Covid-free environment for the nurses, doctors and service users at the site is our priority.
“Instances of anti-social behaviour outside of the building are infrequent.
“The Dyfodol site is part of the solution, not the problem, to reducing anti-social behaviour, crime, and drug use.
“It is a vital support for those in the local community who need help with their addiction and it provides a safe and legal way of reducing their dependence on illegal substances.”
Mr Wallis said he is currently unaware of an exact location for where the Dyfodol could be moved to.
He added: “I’m not against the centre at all, I really just think if there was a better location where the users had ready access and could queue and could get the treatment they need but it wasn’t having the knockon effect of impacting local businesses there in Bridgend town.
“I think it is important that as we come out of Covid, our businesses in Bridgend town are given as much of a fighting chance as possible to get back to pre-covid levels and to hopefully grow and get stronger.
“We obviously need to take into account the needs of the users of the centre as well. The centre is there to provide a service to individuals that need help and they need help for a reason.
“We’ve all worked together to try and come up with something that’s suitable for everyone.
“I think it’s really important for all levels of government to learn these lessons so that in future, if and when these centres are opened up, that what’s happened here over the last few years is taken into account in any future decisions that are made elsewhere in relation to these services.”