Inside UK’s ‘WORST’ neighbourhood where yobs drink on streets, openly take drugs & leave syringes and CONDOMS everywhere
TERRIFIED residents have told how they’re sick of seeing yobs openly drinking and taking drugs before leaving syringes and condoms strewn across the street.
Strict new rules are set to clamp down on extreme antisocial behaviour blighting the Fishwick area of Preston, Lancashire.
Drinking on the streets could be banned in a set of drastic new measures aimed at cleaning up the area.
The new rules will also be designed to stop people using public spaces as toilets.
Locals told The Sun how one run-down phone box, just feet away from a nursery, became a magnet for crime.
The glass box, which features a McDonald’s advert on one side, is apparently known as a drink and drugs den, prompting the council to ask BT to remove it.
Residents in ‘Inner East Preston’ – which includes parts of the Frenchwood and St Matthew’s wards – say that “intimidating” and “nuisance” behaviour is ruining the area.
Iffat Ayub, 67, said: “Drinking on the street is a big problem.
“Sometimes I see groups of men sitting down on a wall near my home.
“It can be early morning or late at night as well as other times.
“They throw rubbish down and they can be really noisy.”
Arun Raghavan, 47, said he often sees people in a nearby park who are drinking alcohol and taking drugs.
“The people who live here are very peaceful,” he said. “They’re not the problem, it’s others who come into the area.
“We’ve had empty bottles shoved under our fence.
“As there’s a lot of pubs and shops nearby, there are always people hanging around. I support what the council is proposing.
“This a good neighbourhood where people get on well with each other.
“So I want it to stay that way.”
A sign in the window of one home warns flytippers not to dump rubbish.
But a mattress can be seen lying in the road as a council workman clears up other discarded items.
In one alleyway a man urinates against a wall, unconcerned by passers-by.
Gemima Awake, 25, said: “Rubbish is always being dumped in the street.
“And I’ve seen people standing under a bridge drinking and sometimes doing drugs.
“It can be intimidating when you walk past.”
Motorbikes get ridden up and down the streets. And there’s always people hanging out on street corners drinking.I feel I’m going to have to wrap my daughter up in bubble wrap
Melissa Somers
As a result of issues in the area, Preston Council could decide to implement a public spaces protection order (PSPO).
Introduced in 2014, they are designed to tackle a wide-range of antisocial behaviour that affects the quality of life of residents.
And PSPO rules can be enforced by the police or city council officers.
A report to Preston councillors has been supported by Lancashire Police, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, two housing associations, as well as residents who’ve reported crime and antisocial behaviour.
Young mum Melissa Somers, 24, who has a nine-month-old baby girl, said the problems have turned the area into a “s***-hole”.
“Too many young people are getting into trouble,” she said.
“Motorbikes get ridden up and down the streets,” Melissa added. “And there’s always people hanging out on street corners drinking.
“I feel I’m going to have to wrap my daughter up in bubble wrap.”
A couple, who didn’t want to be named, said their estate had been blighted by youths dressed in black with some riding quad bikes.
“They kick over bins and you can’t leave anything outside your home because it will just get nicked,” they said.
“Someone stole our Christmas wreath and we even lost a hanging basket.
“It just becomes annoying and a nuisance.”
But others believe the area’s problems have been exaggerated.
Stuart Halliday, 46, who’s lived there since he was 15, said: “It’s not as bad as it used to be.
“They put up security cameras everywhere before, but most of them don’t work now.
“I know some people don’t like to see drinking in the street.
“But it doesn’t really bother me.”
Stuart said that it was mainly groups of Polish or Romanian men who drank in the streets, but for them it was “normal” and part of their way of life.
A nearby church put up railings to stop people drinking on its walls, he added.
A Preston Council spokesperson: “The matter went before Cabinet as it is a significant decision relating to implementation of legal powers which if implemented will affect people within in two wards.
“The PSPO is being considered due to the nature and number of complaints regarding anti-social behaviour.
“The PSPO consideration is a measure which members of the public and their representatives have requested to address some types of anti-social behaviour.
“There is a requirement for consultation before it can be implemented and the decision to be taken by Cabinet is to agree to the consultation being carried out and the details which support this.
“Following a consultation, the matter will return to Cabinet for a decision on whether to implement the PSPO and the conditions based on the consultation’s findings.
“This will be a decision on making the PSPO, the area to which it will apply and the conditions to be applied.
The council’s cabinet was due to meet this week to consider approving the launch of a public consultation into the plans.
THE PROPOSED RULES
- No persons shall consume alcohol or have an open alcohol container within the Prohibition Area after having been requested by an Authorised Officer to cease consumption of alcohol or hand over the container (unless in an otherwise lawful premises).
- No persons shall ingest, inhale, inject, smoke, or otherwise use intoxicating substances within the Prohibition Area.
- No persons shall urinate or defecate in any public place (other than a public toilet) within the Prohibition Area.
- No persons shall discard hypodermic needles or syringes in any public place within the Prohibition Area (except in an appropriate sharps container).
- No persons shall discard used condoms in any public place within the Prohibition Area (except in an appropriate closed container).
- No persons shall obstruct a building entrance or exit, stairwell, or highway in the Prohibition Area after being asked to move by an Authorised Officer.
- No persons shall act or incite others to act in an antisocial manner likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress to any person within a public space within the Prohibition Area.
- No persons shall refuse to provide their genuine name and address to an Authorised Officer for the purposes of enforcement of the Public Spaces Protection Order.