Community to tackle anti-social behaviour together

YOUNG people and adults in Bungay suffering from anti-social behaviour are keen to work together to manage the area.

There have been on-going problems of anti-social behaviour in Meadow Road, particularly where homes overlook the adjacent play area.

At the town council meeting on Monday, PC Martin Skuse told councillors that the local community was keen to cooperate in sorting out the issues.

“One thing that has come out of meetings there is that it is quite clear young people and adults want to work together to manage the area and are setting up a residents association to pull resources together,” he said. “That community seems to be getting on very well after what was quite an upsetting situation.”

But he said police were still making anti-social behaviour there a priority.

Didy Ward said PC Skuse had put in a lot of work at Meadow Road and it was that which was glueing it all together.

However town councillor Martin Evans has warned that it would not be easy to set up such a group: “It's so very difficult to get people to put their time and effort into such a thing, especially when it's a question of anti-social behaviour. You've got to make it work.

“When you've got big 17 and 18-year-old boys to cope with, with a pretty lively attitude towards life, it's not an easy thing to do.”

However he said he was impressed with the police's dedication in trying to find a solution. “It really is quite a ticklish problem that the police are handling in the best possible way they can. There are no easy answers.”

During the council meeting it was revealed that 21 crimes in Bungay had been reported in the past month, including thefts from cars, criminal damage in St John's Road and Orchids Close, burglary of sheds, and violent crimes, including an affray in Meadow Road, at The Chequers in Bridge Street, at Hillside Road East and in Joyce Road. Seven of the 21 crimes had been detected.