‘We’re living in fear’
RESIDENTS PLAGUED BY ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR ON CUL-DE-SAC TAKE AIM AT COUNCIL
RESIDENTS of a Mirfield cul-de-sac who have been plagued for months by anti-social behaviour were astonished when Kirklees Council promised ‘immediate additional support’ – and sent a park ranger to take photographs.
One bewildered pensioner said: “He came down expecting to see a hellhole but he said it was immaculate. He was struggling to find anything to take pictures of.”
People living on Bankfield Court, Mirfield, have experienced everything from loud music played in the early hours to the road being barricaded with bins, to arson.
Police and other emergency services are regularly called to the street, which is lined with bungalows and flats built for the over 60s.
Many of the occupants, mostly tenants of Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, are elderly or poorly.
One pensioner tried to calm a man who was ‘running up and down the road like a crazy person’ and was shoved head-first into a wall.
The catalogue of incidents prompted residents to plead for help from Kirklees Council.
Senior councillor Cathy Scott said: “We fully appreciate that the process can be frustrating when neighbours want immediate action, and we share that frustration.
“However, while we work to solve this issue in the long-term, we have put immediate additional support in place for local residents to ensure they are safe.”
Residents who said they were ‘in fear of their lives’ now say they have heard ‘nothing at all’ from the council. One commented: “Nobody is doing a thing. They really are not. It’s beyond belief.
“They can’t allow it to go on much longer.” Reacting to the presence of the ‘park ranger,’ one pensioner said: “I thought it was really strange.
“He was walking around taking pictures so I asked what he was doing. He told me he was a park ranger.
“The information we got is that the council were hoping to see burned-out cars and rubbish – that we were part of the problem.
“But the park ranger immaculate round here.’”
One resident said: “The council can’t
said:
‘It’s allow this to go on much longer. Everyone’s at the end of their rope.”
Local councillor Martyn Bolt, who has raised residents’ concerns with the council, said the staff member who attended the scene was likely to have been an ‘environmental ranger.’