More muscle to take on mess of St Mary Street
EXPOSED needles, broken glass, vomit and human poo.
This is what businesses in Cardiff are having to put up with on a regular basis as new images reveal the state outside many of the city centre’s premises.
Businesses in Cardiff say they have had enough of antisocial behaviour, open drug taking, alcohol abuse and rough sleeping throughout the city centre, including on St Mary Street.
A total of 86 bars, restaurants, coffee shops, bookies and fast food joints based in or around St Mary Street signed a petition calling for further action on antisocial behaviour.
The petition claimed their doorways are “left in a very messy state, often with human excrement, litter and drug paraphernalia”.
So step up Dylan Williams – FOR Cardiff’s newest recruit who will help tackle the problem which businesses say “is detrimentally affecting the whole business and economy of St Mary’s Street”.
Dylan will work four hours a day throughout the city centre collecting needles and disposal boxes, clearing broken glass, cleaning doorways and picking up litter from rubbish bags which have been attacked by seagulls.
Businesses who find their premises in a messy state will be able to contact the FOR Cardiff offices to request assistance.
Rory Fleming, centre manager for the Morgan Quarter which fronts St Mary Street, says his cleaning team are having to deal with discarded needles, empty alcohol bottles, sick, excrement and urine on a daily basis.
He said: “With people coming from the train station, St Mary Street is one of the first public areas people get to see in Cardiff. From a visitor’s point of view it’s not what you want to see when you’re coming to the capital of Wales.
“Our cleaning staff have a tough job at times. In order to keep up our standards that’s what they have to do, but the introduction of this additional cleaner to St Mary Street will help us.
“We are very sympathetic and empathetic to the issues surrounding the homeless and drug and alcohol abuse throughout the city centre. But at the same time we’re having people openly dealing drugs in the middle of the day, and gangs of abusers shouting at each other, sometimes leading to a physical fight. We don’t want to pass this issue down to someone else; we want to help. [The new cleaning operative] will be a tremendous help. We’ve got a small cleaning team, so any additional assistance that we can get will be gratefully received.”
Dylan said: “I’m really looking forward to helping the FOR Cardiff businesses. It’s clear there is a lot to do but it’s great to be part of the wider FOR Cardiff cleansing team and helping to make a positive difference to the city centre.”
FOR Cardiff says the new service is in direct response to complaints from businesses.
Adrian Field, executive director of FOR Cardiff, said: “In response to a petition signed by most businesses in St Mary Street and sent to FOR Cardiff, South Wales Police, City of Cardiff Council and the media, plus feedback from businesses directly to us, various work has been undertaken in an attempt to deal with the increase in anti-social behaviour, criminal/suspicious activity and its impact on trade and trading conditions.
“One action has been to increase the number of people in our cleansing team. FOR Cardiff remain committed to being the conduit to represent the views of businesses to partners.”