As I mentioned earlier this week a public meeting was arranged for Tuesday evening of this week at the Community Centre on Hexham Road. I asked officers to organise the meeting to get more local people involved.
The meeting had a good turnout - despite the awful weather. I looked around but couldn't see any representatives from the other political parties, leaving Glenn and I to fulfil the role of 'local politicians' (one of my least favourite titles but there you go!)
The focus of the meeting was working with the community to improve life on Hexham estate - a big priority for us locally and something we have been actively campaigning to see happen for several years now.
At the meeting there were presentations from officers in the housing and youth services, as well as a presentation from Dave Soper, Community Development worker employed by regeneration agency Groundwork.
There was feedback from the survey the Housing department of the Council carried out recently asking what improvements people want to see, as well as feedback from the South Reading-wide survey carried out by Dave Soper.
It was good to see issues that local people had raised were being listened to by the Council (at last!)and that this feedback was helping to inform what action the Council plans to take to improve things.
A huge amount of work is now being planned by the Council to improve the look of the estate and reduce anti-social behaviour,including:
- In response to complaints about dog fouling: extra dog bins are being installed, a second dog warden is going to be employed by the Council, and there is going to be more use of fixed penalty notices of £75 in South Reading
- Nuisance officers are now holding regular surgeries on the estate
- Street lighting is being reviewed and residents can pinpoint areas which are dark for better lighting
- Wardens will continue to maintain a high level of visibility on the estate - with a whopping 70% of their 'core time' being spent on the estate (very pleased about this!)
- A 'good neighbour' agreement is being developed with residents to improve behaviour
- Clearer information for residents on how to report anti-social behaviour is being developed
- More reporting of graffiti through regular inspections - 32 tags reported since Jan 09
- Litter picking on estate could be increased from once to twice weekly (yes please!)
- Continued use of falcons to reduce pigeon nuisance on the estate
- A landscaping plan for the estate is being developed
- Improvements to ground floor garden areas are planned
- Additional lighting in front of external doors to flat block to improve safety and security
- Redecoration of internal areas and repainting of bin room doors
- Notice boards to be supplied to all large flat blocks
The presentation by Kevin Black of the Youth Service was inspiring. He talked about the range of activities youngsters on the estate are now being offered. Thanks to Kevin, young people are also getting the chance to gain accreditation - recognition for their achievement at sports etc
Given many young people are leaving schools in South Reading without many qualifications it is good they are being given another opportunity to achieve.
Kevin has put a huge amount of time and effort into giving young people things to do on the estate. He explained a lot of the anti-social behaviour that occurs is due to kids being bored and never being given a lot to do outside school.
For years Hexham estate lacked a permanent youth worker able to put time in to the estate - the difference Kevin has made to young people's lives in the area is fantastic. I really hope he stays in the area and continues to develop our young people.
One issue residents did raise in the meeting was the fact that much of the anti-social behaviour on the estate is caused by children under ten - and yet Kevin works with kids between 11-19. I hope that the Council will look at extending the age range of activities and or increasing the number of youth workers.
It was very sad to hear that children as young as five (and even younger) are being left unsupervised on the estate to play even at night. Questions were raised about parents and how they could be engaged to improve behaviour.
Some of the most exciting stuff that has come out of the surveys that were carried out is the need to get local people more involved in what goes on at the Community Centre. One resident at the meeting complained about the Community Centre often being shut during the day and popular activities like coffee mornings being stopped. This is something which has bugged me for a while, but it's been difficult to make changes without more community engageement.
The majority of people who filled out the survey said they rarely visit the Community Centre. This needs to change.The Community Centre is a community facility so it must serve the people who live in the area.
Local people were encouraged at the meeting to come forward with ideas about what events and activities they would like to see started up. I was pleased to see this got a positive reaction from people at the meeting.
There was also talk of starting up a residents association for the estate.I think this would be great and we will be giving residents 100% backing to do this.
At the end of the meeting there was a chance for residents to raise issues: how to get deal with abandoned cars was raised by a couple of people. This is a constant nuisance on the estate. Another resident asked about turning a grassed area by Bamburgh Court into an allotment - hopefully this will happen.
One comment that a resident made at the meeting really stuck with me. She said:
"If you want things to happen and things to change on this estate you have to fight for it."
I would agree with that. I would go further and say if you want the Council or the Police to do things in Reading either as a resident or indeed as a councillor, you have to fight for it as well and not take no for an answer!
One area in which we're still fighting is in our efforts to get a permanent Police office set up on the estate. I asked the question and was told that RBC are still trying to find the right location. This is needed to ensure that we get the Policing we need in North Whitley.
Hexham estate has come a long way in the brief time I've known it. When I got elected in 2006, it became apparent just by walking around the estate and speaking to residents that the Labour councillors for the area had done very little to improve the estate.
Despite negative articles that appear regularly in the press giving the impression Hexham Road is a bad area, talk anyone who spends any time there will tell you that most people who live on the estate are really genuine, lovely people.
A lot of the change on the estate is down to the hard work of people like Kevin Black in the youth service, Dave Soper (Groundwork)and Charlotte Roberts and Tom Martin at RBC. I wrote to them to thank them today for all that they are doing.
We've gone from a situation of having no permanent neighbourhood officer attached to the estate to having Ashley Blackwood in post since January 2009. Ashley is a first rate officer who works really hard.
Why did things start improving? Maybe officers got sick of me, Kirsten and Glenn nagging them to do stuff (!)- whatever, things on the estate are changing for the better.
However, as I said to officers today - the Council has made a lot of promises to local people on the estate about making things better: it's up to us to ensure the Council delivers.
It's also vital that the community takes back power over what happens in their area because without local people on board this campaign will be worth nothing.
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