S.A.G.E. Residents Public General Meeting Jan 2011 Summary

The next Sandyford & Goldenhill Residents Public General Meeting is on Thursday 13th January 2011 at 7.30 p.m. at Goldenhill Community Centre. Attending are City Councillors, Staffordshire Police & Officers from the City Council. At the meeting, there will be a free prize draw with McDonald’s Meal Vouchers and £10 Money off Vouchers for Best Tyres. The bar will also be open for alcoholic and hot & cold drinks. We look forward to seeing you there on the evening.

Summary

That was quite a meeting.

I arrived late so missed the updates Megan Ryan had promised about Tunstall Baths some time ago, so still a little in the dark (Megan, if your reading that's a hint).

The bits I did miss of interest was that Shelton Pool had been allowed to get into such a state that it was no longer safe, however the Council were still allowing it to remain open unrepaired. I knew I was in for a fun evening.

How on earth could a pool that was unsafe be allowed to remain open, what's going on? Also why was the maintenance allowed to slip on this pool to such a state? It's a council run facility, being ran in times when all the money under the sun was thrown at the city. Why couldn't some of it have gone the way of our existing facilities?

Cllr Ryan, then went onto suggest that although Tunstall Pool's future wasn't secure, and new full length pool was being planned for Dimensions.

Residents voiced concerns to Cllr Ryan, that it was now cheaper to swim at DW fitness than it is at Tunstall Pool or Dimensions.

Cllr Ryan response was that Tunstall Pool is a "Drain on finances"

ABS

During Cllr Ryan's time on the floor, a gentlemen approached her brandishing paper work telling the 50-odd audience that he was being forced out of his home after youths had targeted him and his family on a regular basis.

The council and police, he said had signed documents saying it was better for his family to move, rather than to tackle the ABS problem of a know and repeat offender. The poor chap was refused time to speak, although he did seem to have a lot of support from around the room, as many people spoke of an increasing number of ABS issues in and around the Sandyford Goldenhill area.

After what seemed an age the panel made up of councillors, police and SOT CC officers did say after some nudging from the SAGE board to meet after to voice their concerns, who pleaded that "it was easier to move the innocent".

Another alarming statement from Cllr Ryan was that she'd not heard of the incidents. Surly if these sort of incidents are going on, Cllrs need to be kept in the loop and side lined.

SAGE did show some frustration in the fact that they've made their selves known, and if they had been informed would have acted long before tonight.

The family move from the area on Saturday.

At this point it appears that Cllr Ryan makes a quick get away. Happy Birthday Megan.

PCSO Frost tried to read out recent crime figures stating that abs behavior had dropped in the past 12 months.

I know for a fact that the Bankeyfields park which falls under the Sandyford area, saw an increase in ABS calls, and if anything the problem hasn't gone away.

One residents shouted over the PCSO that his daughter had been seriously harnessed on the way home from school. When challenged did the father report it he replied that he's fed up with reporting the same thing over and over, nothing ever seems to happen.

Older members of the audience said they never had asbo's in their day. The local booby would dish out a clip around their ear.

Cllr Khan traveled stood for his chance to take the floor.
He didn't really have much to say in the meeting, other than ABS wasn't just the responsibility of the council and the police, but was the parents fault. He suggests that with the lack of morals and parental guidance are the course but offered no support in the matter.

I suppose he only has one or two months left in his current role as Tunstall Councillor before standing for the Shelton Council seat and doesn't to start a long fight that he can't finish. I do feel for any Shelton Resident who thinks voting labour in this next local election. Poor showing, very unprepared.

One name to remember was David Potts, the councils local Neighbourhood Enforcement Officer who introduced himself as being new to the job.

Locally there were 6 asbos given, of which 2 had moved away. It's certainly an issue that needs serious looking at in the Sandyford and Goldenhill area as families do not deserve to be victimized and terrorized.

From my once experience, every last incident must be reported, drive those figures up and don't let report readers be lulled into a false sense of security. The problem will only get worse as the nights get shorter.

Plant Pots
During the meeting, local infighting was shown up, with Tom Simpson (SAGE Vice Chair) very clearly stating that they had fought very hard to get the out and about club benches, even against their better judgement, as benches were a natural place for youths to congregate and cause trouble.

So when it came for SAGE to complain about the flower pots saying they were a serious danger for your people being seen at the crossing by the co-op, they stated they would have liked to seen the same support back.

After a very lengthy debate between the SAGE board and the Out and About club members, which discussed how Cllr Megan Ryan helped secure the funding for the plant boxes, which established that the boxes had been put on the wrong part of the railing, in both cases the approach side so drivers would have great difficulty seeing young people waiting to cross.

SAGE stated that they were disappointed that these decisions weren't ran through them first, pointing out that they were lucky to have their group running such a large area as Sandyford and Goldenhill combined, unlike Tunstall which had several Residents Groups.

One lady near me muttered that they'd gotten to big for their boots.

The evening finished with a raffle with prizes donated from McDonlads and Best Tyres.

All in all, it was quite a tough night for group because of the unexpected situation arising because of the ASBO discussion. How you deal with these things is telling, and I'm hoping to hear of another meeting very soon for the people of the area to come forward and discuss ABS problems together, to work out where the problems lie, and how all can help.