Loughborough North West Area Forum

1. LoughboroughNorth West Area Forum 14 respondents from the community day at St Peter’s Community Centre

2. Key Concerns • Late night noise from students • Low level vandalism • Noise from community venues • Young people hanging around residential buildings in communal closed spaces - intimidating presence • Agencies not acting quickly enough when ‘bad’ tenants need dealing with

3. Key Concerns • Drugs related issues • Anti-social behaviour • Proximity of noise from other residents (especially after drinking/socially) • Derby Road traffic and child safety • Concern for ‘Black’ people newly arrived in the area

5. Key Issues • Lack of activities for older teenagers • Late night football • Damage to property • Late night passage of people from town centre

6. If it got worse what’s your nightmare? • Fear of retaliation (e.g. if you work with the Police) • More houses being sold off to landlords and more students arriving in the area • The Council putting worst tenants on the estate • An attack or a fire caused by youths - all the flats catching fire as a result • No student holiday!

7. If it got worse what’s your nightmare? • More and more noise, vomit and vandalism • Threat of violence • Influence on younger children • Concern for other people like me who have moved here from abroad • Worries for older Black people and those who suffer from depression • My potential nightmare about students would be unfounded if people talked to them and welcomed them

8. What’s your dream? • Restricted parking which is free for residents • More activities to bring kids and local residents together • More activities for younger kids • More of a community • Change the image of the place • CCTV linked to central monitoring

10. What’s your dream? • To build respect between people and stop the anti-social behaviour • Welcoming students into our community, residents getting out there and talking to them in a friendly and non-intimidating way • A cultural centre in Loughborough for people to meet • Young people organised - say around a football team • Responsible drinking and behaviour

11. What is the reality on the ground • Valued facilities provided by community centres • Persistence of noise and disturbance at nights • Late night taxis causing noise and disturbance • Intimidated by the presence of 19-20 year olds even during the day • Drug dealing in the afternoon and early evenings

12. What is the reality on the ground • Nowhere for teenagers to go - ‘bored’ teens • Young people causing a nuisance in the parks • Large numbers of students and no facilities for them • Production of a newsletter which seeks to include the students • Greater problems when there is hot weather - more drinking and hanging around • Domestic disturbances which are public

13. What is the reality on the ground • Development of positive initiatives - Internet Café, coffee mornings, bingo, holiday activities for kids, language project. • ASB officers not engaged enough with teenagers - residents co-operate with Police but fear intimidation • Knowledge of local facilities - but could be understood and promoted better • Too many facilities for students are on campus - not enough interaction or activities combined with residents

15. What is the reality on the ground • “The reality is that there are people here with needs and they need something now!” • Play activities and facilities but fears of sending younger children on their own - danger of main roads, who else is there, broken glass etc. and lack of supervision. • “The Police, University Security and the Council are dealing with issues of drunken and anti-social behaviour”

16. What holds things in place? • Location - routes through the area - lack of awareness of people who are drunk etc. of their impact on others. • Not knowing who we should tell about our problems. • Structure of the environment - access to buildings which allow the wrong people in. • Fear, the difficulties people face in talking about or confronting problems, people feel that it cannot be dealt with. We need to tackle these things together at the same time.

17. What holds things in place? • Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing - NEED TO TALK TO PEOPLE! • Legal rules hold things back • Major roads divide the area. • Structural issues to do with where things are placed in our community - the parks are too far away for some - so the shops become a focal point - the social gathering place. • Student residency divides us.

19. What holds things in place? • On a positive note we have a good councillor and the Tenants Association is a force for change, we also have an excellent housing officer sensitive to need. • Poverty keeps things as they are. • Housing Association is good but slow. • Police can be non-existent - problems multiply when their presence is lacking. • Procedural slowness • The partying lifestyle of some residents

20. What holds things in place? • Lack of parenting, lack of traditional respect and boundaries • Police disheartened • Student Action is positive - but not enough students engage with it - we need more people to inject energy into it. • School closure had a major impact on the family profile of the area. • Things have improved since we have a student liaison officer - more organised.

21. What holds things in place? • Our local residents committee and action group are a positive influence and vehicle for change. • Things are not dealt with effectively enough.

22. What new ideas do you have? • “Curfews!! We should start with the Freshers - residents meetings with them - maybe joint parties or events at community centres.” • “I find it difficult to think of new things now - we have tried so much - all I can think of now is more Police presence.” • Joint university and residents meetings.

24. What new ideas do you have? • Once things are reported agencies should take ownership • We should look at more IT based solutions to some problems. • Better case monitoring roles. • Independent community monitoring officers. • Private sector investment in maintaining community and voluntary provision.

25. What new ideas do you have? • CCTV linked to central monitoring. • Better communication, contact between people when we feel threatened. • Signs placed around our environment which address issues and behaviour. • Landlord’s rules enforced and real penalties imposed. • Quick response - better communication from agencies • Need to tackle retribution or the fear of it.

26. What new ideas do you have? • More informal opportunities for people to meet together. • Take the young people out of their environment and show them what it’s like for people who really have nothing - show them boundaries. • Encourage more families back into the area. • Talking to people more about their ideas. • Enlist help of more agencies, link their foreign students with similar backgrounds and with residents

27. What new ideas do you have? • Form a theatre group for young people in the evenings • Make more of an example of offenders - make them more visible - publish results in the press.

29. What could we do to make things happen? • We could support quarterly area meetings to discuss issues with students. • We need to create more activities to bring people together - we’ve done so many things but how do we get people to come? • Register as a charity - or create an umbrella organisation for different residents groups to come together - as in Leicester. • We need to develop a better understanding - a mapping of what is possible in law for all agencies

30. What could we do to make things happen? • We need more innovative ways of getting people talking to each other. • Approaching the private sector more confidently. • Take succession of community leadership more seriously. • Organise a community gardening day. • Find ways of getting the message across that it’s not good to live this way.

31. What could we do to make things happen? • Ringing the Police anonymously is oor only weapon - we must make sure calls are genuine. • We need to look at how we can organise ourselves differently - we need to involve young people in this we need to look at all sorts of other approaches. • “There in nothing I can do it is out of my hands.”

32. What could we do to make things happen? • Recognise that we are doing a good job as an action group but we need to get more students involved • Organise a student/neighbour event as a regular part of Fresher’s week. • Establish a new group for newcomers from foreign countries - seek help from Voluntary Action Charnwood. • Work with specialist organisations to raise funds and plan creative activities for young people.

33. How committed and determined are you to making change happen? • These things are affecting our health so yes we are determined to see some change. • I am still committed to the process - but to be honest I am less determined than I was - more knocks and let downs and you end up asking yourself “why do I bother?”. • Commitment is an issue - succession is an issue - who will take this on and at what level - which way out is there? • As far as my determination goes I’m a battler, very determined.

34. How committed and determined are you to making change happen? • I am very committed to work on problems but I am up and down with aspects of determination. • It is sometimes difficult to assess or differentiate what is genuinely threatening - it can be frightening. • I don’t feel like I or anyone else has the resources, it’s like flogging a dead horse. • I am committed but need to think about my own health. • With help I am keen to see this through. • Committed yes but we all need to work together.

36. Where do you go to for support? • The University, social centres, community wardens and CSOs - even if they think they have been dealing with things we need to check back on what is happening. • There are lists of places as we have just talked about but the key resource in our area is a great housing officer - but he’s only one man. • The County and Borough Council newsletters should be much more grassroots.

37. Where do you go to for support? • We need to access more support from the County Council, Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing, University and private business. • We have little or no contact with our Borough Councillors. • We are too small to become a registered charity - this status would help us apply for funding. • We need to make use of the Area Forum, Services, Voluntary Action, an active councillor and the Police. • It is true to say we are dissatisfied with some services and need to express it and change things.

38. Where do you go to for support? • We need to enlist parents and to work with younger children, to instill values in them while they are young. • We need to look at money which is not being used well or open for re-allocation. We need to build up volunteering too and help from parents.

39. How do you feel different about taking things forward? • We need to ask more what it is like for other residents? • We need to take action but we can’t just do it on our own. • The bottom line is that I realise I am happy where I am but I see the youth as a problem. • Talk is one thing, action is another. • I am not sure we are so good at coming up with bigger ideas - we know where we live but the new thinking part is harder.

40. How do you feel different about taking things forward? • I don’t feel different - I still think it’s hopeless • I feel like I can give it another go now I know there is help available. • We are happy to have talked about these things and hope we can talk through ideas further.

41. What was photographed? • Low level of graffiti • Abandoned supermarket trolleys • Rubbish collecting in particular places • Unrepaired damage • The University Swimming Pool as a local resource • Unkempt gardens and pathways • Rubbish - left by the Council

42. What was photographed? • Positive images of community facilities • Community coffee morning • Local bus services • Teen Shelter • Good play facilities for young children • Boarded up houses • Convenient local shops

43. What was photographed? • Neighbours - people we know • Leisure Centre • Local surgery • Actively used allotments • Road sweeping • Good planting and nicely laid out gardens • Overspill from skips