Published date: 14 November 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
Tensions ran high at a public meeting to discuss drugs and anti-social behaviour in a Wrexham ward.
A public meeting was held at St James’ church in Rhosddu, where members of the community met with representatives of the police and Wrexham Council to grill them about the issue.
The meeting came after Rhosddu Community Council members raised the issue of drugs, homelessness and anti-social behaviour plaguing the ward at their latest meeting.
But residents found it difficult to restrain their emotions on the subject, with meeting organiser local campaigner Andrew Atkinson, saying he understood their frustration and called the problem one of “epic proportions”, adding there are no quick fixes for the issue.
Angry residents spoke of their own experiences of dealing with drug users perpetrating this behaviour and what they perceived to be a lack of action from the police and the council in response.
One resident said she had seen drug paraphernalia such as needles and used wipes near her own house, adding that when she had reported the issue to the council and police, she had been “passed around” by both who claimed it was the other party’s responsibility.
She added: “My children watched drug dealing at 9am – I do not want them seeing that.” She and other residents were also critical of Cllr Hugh Jones, who helped chair the meeting, accusing him of being out of touch with the issue as he does not live in the ward and adding: “I find it absolutely despicable that you say you know what it’s about, because you don’t.”
But Cllr Jones defended the council’s positio n, saying: “I do not need to live in the ward to understand the problem because I have walked around the ward with the police and other councillors.
“I have seen the scale and the size of the problem in Wrexham.”
There was further criticism from residents about the way that services that help substance misusers are distributed, with many saying planning failures had led to the services being centred in one area and expressing frustration that planning policies and legislation mean they cannot be moved on.
In response, Cllr Jones said: “The police and the council can only act within the law that the country provides for us to act within. We cannot do anything that is unlawful or illegal.”
Cllr Jones was also critical of Betsi Cadwaldr University Health Board’s needle exchange policy, which he said was having a huge impact on the problem and added the council were planning to challenge the health board on the policy.
The Leader reported in August how the scheme run by the health board saw almost a quarter of the needles issued for North Wales sent to Wrexham county.
Chief Insp Dave Jolly of North Wales Police was at the meeting and said officers and PCSOs are a finite resource and they are doing everything they can to tackle the issue.
Insp Jolly said: “If the services we have were not here, the people doing this would still be here. This is a long term problem.”
Meeting organiser Mr Atkinson thanked residents for their attendance and the many points they raised.
He added he and the councillors in attendance would continue to put pressure on Wrexham Council, the health board and Welsh Government in an attempt to mitigate the issue and bring about long-term policy changes to help them tackle the problem
http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/169076/residents-in-rhosddu-speak-out-over-issues-of-drug-taking-and-anti-social-behaviour.aspx
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