Crisis talks in Burnbank Residents band together to tackle serious issues
Councillors were told that Burnbank is becoming like a ghetto.
That was the message of one Burnbank resident at a public meeting on Wednesday, July 3, in response to recent highprofile incidents.
And another said that the area “was in crisis”.
Hamilton North and East councillors Davie Mclachlan and Stephanie Callaghan were joined by community police at the Burnbank Centre to answer questions from the public.
Ian Buchanan, of Buchanan Butchers, organised the meeting in a bid to change his community for the better.
He said: “I understand we are all frustrated, scared, and angry, but if we allowed this meeting to only be about what’s wrong,we’ll not have time to figure out how to make it right.
“Future meetings will include the council and housing as well as other interaction with police, but I didn’t want to over-burden our first meeting with too much.
“We had two police officers attending, they are the officers on the beat in Burnbank and I think they had a pretty unique insight as to the troubles we face.
“I’m looking forward to us all working with them to get the best possible result. Things are moving in the right direction. Thanks everyone for your support, it means a lot not to me, but the whole community.”
Residents raised issues from drug dealing and alcohol to theft and a chemist that needed a security guard.
We might get one person giving nine or 10 pieces of info but we need more people to contact us
PCS David Mitchell and Martin Diplacito – who cover the north of Hamilton – explained that the vast majority of their time was spent in Burnbank as they target anti-social behaviour that has blighted the community.
One issue the police face is community engagement and intelligence gathering.
PC Diplacito said: “Some people will never speak to the police and we will never be able to change that.
“It is a big gripe for people that they phone the police and no one attends.”
PC Mitchell added: “We might get one perturbed person giving us nine or 10 pieces of information but we need more people to contact us.”
A range of views were given and Cllrs Callaghan and Mclachlan were in favour of creating a Burnbank Community Council to lead the way forward.
One resident said: “This place is like a ghetto. If it’s not drugs, it’s drink. You should get the hours cut for selling drink and see if that helps.” Another added: “My dad is 89 and he’s extremely anxious. He won’t go to the chemist without one of us with him.” Cllr Mclachlan said the council were looking at opening up the ‘Red Road’ to traffic on a trial basis, with a view to making it permanent.
Cuts to the local authority’s budget were also raised and one woman said: “Are we going to have someone here that is responsible for these cuts?”
Another meeting is scheduled for next week, with details on the Burnbank Community Action Group Facebook page.
Burnbank Community Action Group was set up following a number of recent incidents in the area. Police were called to three incidents within the same week at the Burnbank Centre.
At around 4.10pm on Thursday, June 20, officers attended the Burnbank Centre, to reports a man had been assaulted.
On Sunday, June 16, a 27-year-old man was assaulted in the centre.
The following day emergency services were called to George Street in the centre following reports of a blaze at a block of flats.