Call for community meetings comeback (From Ledbury Reporter)

Call for community meetings comeback

4:30pm Monday 10th September 2012 in News

FED-UP care home residents are having face-to-face meetings with a town councillor over a recreation ground they claim is plagued by anti-social behaviour.

Ledbury town councillor Annette Crowe has already made contact with staff at the residential home, off Orchard Lane, which sits opposite the troubled recreation ground.

Individual residents are being asked whether they wish to attend the meeting with Coun Crowe, on a date still to be fixed.

Several residents have contacted Coun Crowe individually already over concerns about youth behaviour on the recreation ground, which is a war memorial to the town’s soldiers killed in the First World War.

Coun Crowe said: “Some nights there are noises till 4am in the morning.

“The Leadon Bank residents are people in their golden years, of course, and they don’t want this.

“There’s obviously a major problem down there, and this is where revived PACT (Partners and Communities Together) meetings could come in.”

These were regular meetings involving the public, councillors and the police; but they petered out in Ledbury several years ago.

Coun Crowe is keen to relaunch PACT meetings, saying: “They can give a voice to people who are afraid to ring the police, because they don’t want trouble on their doorstep.”

She said of the Leadon Bank residents: “They need an advocate – someone to stand up for them.”

The recreation ground has suffered from a number of problems in recent months, including damage to the new war memorial plaque, late night drinking, noise, verbal abuse and littering.

Ledbury’s Mayor, Coun Phill Bettington has stated his intention to study CCTV images from the site, but he is still to make the necessary arrangements.

The police have already said they will boost the number of patrols at the recreation ground.