The small city the place ‘individuals are scared to exit after 6pm’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

Glynneath, a small Welsh city over 10 miles from Neath, is usually a relatively quiet city, however in current months, residents have reported a surge in delinquent behaviour. One resident who has been impacted by that is amputee Stuart Underwood, 58, who invested all of his financial savings in his motorhome simply to later uncover that it had been vandalised.

The motorhome was vandalised whereas parked in a council-run automobile park exterior his retirement house on Thursday, February 27. Speaking about this to Wales Online, he mentioned: “I have a motorhome; I don’t live in it. It’s parked outside the building. I had a friend around on Wednesday evening. We went down for food, and we came back, and the van was okay.

“I received up on Thursday morning… and somebody had sprayed crimson paint throughout it, they usually put one thing on the home windows which appears to have executed some harm to the plastic home windows on the facet of the motorhome. It’s all I’ve received, they usually’ve broken it badly.”

Stuart, who is missing one of his legs and therefore struggles with mobility problems, reported the incident to the police on that same morning but was left dismayed that it took until Saturday evening for them to show up.

In a statement brimming with frustration, he said: “Whoever was within the management room anticipated me to go round knocking on doorways to see if anyone had a hoop doorbell, which could have seen what occurred. That’s their job, absolutely their job, they’re investigating, it must be their job, not mine.”

He also remarked on the ongoing anti-social behaviour in the car park in which he keeps his motorhome, explaining: “There’s been lots of people, loads of children. I imply, they’re children; I do really feel sorry for them as a result of there’s not rather a lot for them to do round right here, however there’s loads of children within the automobile park.

“Unfortunately for the children around here in the village, there’s nothing for them to do. When I was younger… there was always stuff for us to do, and unfortunately, kids are more interested in that thing you’ve got in your hand [ a smartphone] than they are in doing what we used to, which is play in the streets.

“So they have nothing to do, there isn’t any youth golf equipment or something round for them, the whole lot is just too costly. I do not know, they make a noise, they shout, they scream, they play soccer, no matter, nevertheless it’s simply because they have nothing else to do. So they use the automobile park as a pleasant open area to do no matter they’re gonna do.”

He then revealed that some ground floor residents have experienced disturbances such as window knocking. He shared that these incidents have led to a sense of unease among people, making them hesitant to venture out after dark. Stuart confessed: “We do not exit at evening. I do not really feel secure going out at evening. I’ve mobility issues. As I mentioned, I’m lacking a leg.

“I don’t feel safe enough to go out in the evenings after 6 o’clock. I can’t speak for other residents… but there’s a lady here… and she has had problems with kids knocking on the windows of her flat because she lives in a downstairs flat. Kids knocking on the windows. Nobody goes out of here after six at night.”

Councillor Simon Anthony Knoyle, representing Glynneath Central and East at Neath Port Talbot Council, has responded to the current vandalism incident involving the motorhome and has firmly denied claims that there’s “not a lot to do in Glynneath.” In his assertion, he talked about: “I saw this on social media and spoke with our local PC who explained that he was looking into this.”

He additional highlighted the sturdy relationship between city councillors and PCSOs in Glynneath, stating: “The Town Councillors and I in Glynneath have excellent relationships with our PCSOs who are active in the area and will deal with things when reported to them. The difficulty we have is that incidents are not immediately reported to the South Wales Police through the various channels for doing so.”

Knoyle additionally addressed the problem of residents turning to social media relatively than official reporting channels: “Residents will take to social media and expect things to be done as a result of posting instead of reporting formally through to the SWP. This is a big problem in Glynneath and across the wider NPT community following conversations I have with my county Cllr colleagues.

“The situation that there’s not rather a lot to do in Glynneath I completely refute, we now have a number of youth golf equipment run by native organisations and thru our youth service from an NPT perspective. “The football and rugby clubs are very active with training and matches through the weekend and on weekends with children from the age of 6 to 16 and youths playing in these teams. There are also local groups such as the Scouts and netball in the area, a community boxing club in Cwmgwrach, we also very lucky to have a leisure sentre with a swimming pool in Glynneath.

“The city council has obtained funding and is at the moment within the development part of a brand new £817,000 challenge in our Welfare Park for brand new toddler teenager play areas along with new tennis courts and a MUGA for the youngsters and youths of Glynneath to entry.

“We have recently invested over £100,000 in a new skate park at the leisure sentre. We have children play areas at Ynys Y Nos Avenue, Glynneath RFC, the development at our Welfare Park, the skate park, dynamic play area and playground at the leisure centre and a recently completed scheme at Cwmgwrach also.”

However, it is not simply Mr Underwood who has noticed cases of anti-social behaviour, with quite a few shopkeepers within the neighborhood sharing these issues with WalesOnline. Recalling one such event, one shopkeeper informed the outlet: “A few months ago, my sister was working here for me and a group of kids came in, they went into the … the back of the shop, and started throwing things around.

“When she went in to inform them off, she had a load of abuse from one explicit baby however this baby is not even from this village, he is from a neighbouring village. The different youngsters have been tremendous and apologetic the following day, nevertheless it’s simply this explicit one baby that was very upsetting on the time.”

Although the incident was not reported to the police, the shop owner expressed concern about the declining presence of officers in the area. They noted that, up until about a year ago, police patrols were a common sight, particularly after school hours, but that visibility has diminished.

One shopkeeper, preferring to stay unnamed, spoke out about the rising menace caused by local youth: “There’s simply loads of gangs of children intimidating individuals after they’re on their very own, vandalising issues. One of my clients earlier was saying that the place they’re constructing the brand new park down the street, that they had all jumped the fence they usually have been in there kicking the brand new park bits and items that have been in there… It’s simply normal menacing. That’s what it’s. It’s simply normal menacing.”

Revealing the age of the troublemakers as “early complete age.” the shopkeeper along with a customer, scoffed at the idea of seeing a police officer on patrol in the area, the shopkeeper quipping: “That’s the funniest factor I’ve heard this yr. We have not even received PCSOs in Greenwich.”

In response to these complaints A Neath Port Talbot Council spokesperson told WalesOnline: “We take complaints of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) extraordinarily severely and wherever we are able to, will work with our companions to take motion.

In phrases of anti-social behaviour on this space, nevertheless, our neighborhood security crew has in a roundabout way acquired any complaints, and so we want to attraction to anybody witnessing ASB to report it to our companions, South Wales Police, by way of 101 – with out official reviews it’s troublesome for companions to take motion, and to make sure elevated police presence within the space too.”