‘It’s like we in this slum just no way Are trapped - there is out for us’
SAY ALL THIS IS PART OF EVERYDAY LIFE
A TORMENTED family are so desperate to get out of a notorious city area that they tried to offer another tenant £5,000 to switch homes with them.
But such is the reputation of Neston Gardens in Leicester that the other person told them he would not move there if they paid him twice as much.
The family – an Asian mum and dad and their two children, aged six and seven – have had racist abuse shouted through the window of their ground floor flat, have to keep their children indoors because of the drug use going on outside and regularly come across faeces in the hall.
The dad, who is 35 and a NHS nurse, said: “I can’t explain what it’s like here – it’s like living in a slum.
“We’ve been here for seven years and now our children want to be playing outside, but we don’t want them going out there – there’s the smell of drugs everywhere.
“We’re very worried about being here at all and we need to move. We suffer every torture.”
Earlier this year, the Mercury published photographs of two men – said to have been taking drugs – slumped on a bench in the area where the couple live in Neston Gardens, which is off Saffron Lane in Leicester.
And, in the summer, another Neston Gardens parent spoke to a Mercury reporter about her failed attempts to find a new council flat for her and her young son anywhere else in the city. The dad said: “We open the window in the summer and all you can smell is the drugs. And last year we also had racist abuse shouted through the window.
“My wife gets very anxious very easily and she can’t stand this.
“A few nights ago there was noise in the corridor – teenage boys and girls. “My neighbour told them she was going to call the police and later they were pounding on her door. “I work as a nurse at Leicester General Hospital and I got home and found human excrement in the hall.
“That wasn’t the first time, though – that has probably happened at least once a month for several years. It often smells of urine, too. “For the first few years I thought it was a neighbour’s dog, but then after they were gone it kept happening.
“I usually just put some soil over it and shovel it up.
“We are absolutely disgusted by this place. We feel helpless.”
He said that as a Leicester City Council tenant, getting a different property elsewhere would mean finding another tenant to switch with.
Dad
DRUGS, FAECES, RACIST ABUSE FAMILY
I’ve been asking for a swap, looking to move out for years. No one wants to come here. We’ve no way out
The dad said: “I tell the housing officers whenever they come around about the problems we’re having.
“I’ve been asking for a swap, looking to move out for two or three years now.
“I even offered one person £5,000 to swap flats with us. They said they wouldn’t swap for £10,000.
“No one wants to come to Neston Gardens. We’ve no way out.”
In response, a Leicester City Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of problems with anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Neston Gardens and have
taken positive action to tackle these.
“In response to previous reports of ASB from other residents, we have been working closely with partners, including the police, to take enforcement action and make improvements.
“A door-to-door exercise was carried out with the police in this block to identify issues and we will continue to meet regularly with residents to develop and bring forward further improvements to the area.
“We were very concerned to hear that these tenants were experiencing these problems and we hope in future they will feel able to report them directly to us.
“We have since spoken to the family to provide support and offer reassurance to them that we take any complaints of this nature very seriously and will act quickly and appropriately.
“We will explore what else can be done to support this family and to ensure residents do report incidents to us when they occur.”