Campaigner: Southend has become an 'urban hell hole' (From Southend Standard)

Campaigner: Southend has become an 'urban hell hole'

6:00am Thursday 4th March 2010

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A PILLAR of the community has branded Southend town centre an “urban hellhole” and is desperate to leave.

Glyn Evans, a stalwart of five community groups, has resigned from his posts because he is sick of Southend Council failing to respond to his concerns.

He claims a small area has now been crammed full of drugs clinics, bail hostels, homeless centres and private landlords who home past offenders.

He says this has led to a catalogue of problems which have brought the area down Mr Evans, 58, said: “The main problem is the spiral of decline.

“When I moved into this area it was before the Woodgrange Drive Estate was built.

“It was before rogue landlords and people started splitting up the flats into rabbit warrens, the bail hostels, Acorn (a housing association which manages bedsits), the drug dealing and farming, and all the fighting.”

Mr Evans, who lives in Kilworth Avenue, Southend, had been chairman of the Turning Tides Neighbourhood Manage-ment Partnership board, as well as the Coalition of Borough Residents Associations.

He was also on the Kilworth Area Residents’ Association, Old Southend Area Regener-ation Activities group and Chase Road Community Project, but has stepped down in sheer frustration.

Mr Evans said whenever he complains to the council about problems in the Kursaal ward he is branded a “Nimby” and is told the charities have to work somewhere.

But although he supports the work organisations do with vulnerable people, he says there is a knock-on effect with so many being housed together. Certainly there have been a number of high-profile incidents in recent weeks to back up his concerns.

There has been a sexual assault in Warrior Square and a 27-year-old man was robbed in the underpass between Hastings Road and Lancaster Gardens, after being held in a headlock.

A case of grievous bodily harm was also reported at the Rosemead bail hostel, in Hastings Road, for which a 17-year-old girl has now been charged and appeared in court.

Mr Evans said: “The council won’t even accept there’s a problem. They say the police will have to go out and get them, but they are not looking at the underlying problem.

“If you shove together ex-offenders, drunks, the homeless, plus people evicted from homes and house them all together there’s going to be trouble.”

Mr Evans said he cannot understand why so many of these institutions are being put into the Kursaal ward even though the council’s own statistics show it is the most deprived area of Southend, with the highest unemployment rate.

But he has conceded antisocial behaviour has declined there in recent months, but believes this is mainly down to the cold weather.

Rob Tinlin, chief executive of Southend Council, said: “We are sorry to hear Glyn feels moving away is his only option and appreciate his commitment to the community. We will continue to work alongside the police and other partners to address the issues which particularly concern him.”

But police say they are winning the battle against antisocial behaviour in Southend town centre and have seen the number of incidents drop by 22 per cent.

There were 673 incidents reported in the area between November and January, compared with 859 in the same period the previous year.

The police said the reduction is down to a string of initiatives including Operation Tressle, which has been credited with shifting streetwalkers and kerbcrawlers out of the area. It has led to the arrests of 12 people suspected of soliciting in the area.

Operation Redbull deals with groups of young people which gather at night and Operation Staysafe takes vulnerable young people to a place of safety until they can be collected by their parents.

Sgt Paul Ahmed, of Southend’s neighbourhood policing team, said there had been antisocial behaviour issues raised in the autumn, but they have launched Operation Girton which seems to have knocked them on the head.

He said: “We spent five or six weeks camped in that area giving out leaflets about crime reduction and burglary.

“We knocked on so many doors you wouldn’t believe it, and sort of killed the issue because there were so many police.

“Prior to Christmas we were there a lot and since Christmas we have dealt with the prostitution issue there.”

In fact, antisocial behaviour has plummeted in the Kursaal ward by almost a quarter, with 188 incidents reported between November and January. This compares with 250 in the same period the previous year.

The police also said they work closely with the council and other partners over where drug clinics should go.

Chief Insp Andy Prophet, of Southend police, said: “We don’t have any issue and, indeed, we work very closely with the council around antisocial behaviour and our operations in response to it.

“We don’t have any concerns with any of the treatment centres or local support networks for anybody who’s being treated for drug use.

“Through the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partner-ship we work very closely with Southend Council and a number of other agencies, such as the drug and alcohol referral team, and antisocial behaviour teams.

“Any work around a particular location, or a particular premises, which may be treating anybody with a particular background, or for drug use, is done in full consultation and full partnership agreement.”

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