ECC’s New Vandal Route
There has been a problem in the St Thomas area of the City which indicates the arrogance of ECC, whereby it presumes to know better than the local community what are the needs of that particular neighbourhood.
The front page headline of the Express & Echo on 14th July 2007 was “Gang of yobs beat woman unconscious in city park”. The following information was given on page 5:
• “This appears to be a completely unprovoked attack on two middle-
• The attack (which took place around 9.45pm) follows long-
• There is an issue about gates and through access on which ECC has failed to act, ignoring the advice of local residents, the police, Parkwatch and local ECC Councillors.
In the light of this, please consider the following:
In recent decades, the Summerway site has been relatively secure as there has been little traffic over the old school playing field. The through traffic, which had been a headache some time in the past, had been restricted by a high fence and locked gate sensibly erected by DCC between the far corner of the courts and the back wall of a garden belonging to a property in The Mede. This had greatly reduced the vandalism to the Club and neighbouring properties.
Providing public access to the park from the Summerway end of the field on completion of the new housing development has exposed the Club to a very significant increase in vandalism. No steps were taken by either DCC or ECC to protect the Club premises from this new threat occasioned by the change of use of the field. To add to this lack of foresight, ECC have now opened up a new vandal route jeopardising the safety of the field area. In particular, this exposes children using the park to the dangers of one of the City’s busy trunk roads.
Not only have the City Council failed to take note regarding the menace of vandals by those more knowledgeable of the St Thomas Pleasure Ground locality, but it has now created exactly the same hazard for the Summerway area. It has reversed DCC’s good work by removing the fence and gate. Creating the new park from the Civic Centre without proper reference to the Club or neighbourhood is hardly a wise course of action, especially as the Council’s ‘constructive eviction’ of the Club from the site must have resulted in more children hanging around on street corners, swelling the size of the area’s gangs of vandals.
ECC has reasons, no doubt, for creating the park in the way which it is doing, but they seem badly flawed, and there should surely have been a proper debate and evaluation before it plunged into the imposition of its own dreamed up schemes upon the community. A disregard for the public should not be a characteristic of what ought to be a caring Council.
It would appear from an abundance of evidence that ECC has no regard for the Club. By opening up this new vandal route, the City Council is either unaware of the views of the Club, clearly expressed to both Councils as far back as 1999, or has failed to value the Club’s assessment and experience regarding this issue.
Very soon after the opening of the new vandal route, passing vandals have already invaded the clubhouse, doing considerable damage, and have torn down the fencing adjacent to the entrance gate. By further increasing the exposure of the clubhouse to this menace, it would seem that Exeter City Council are using the vandals to reduce it to a derelict condition so that it has justification for its seeming wish to demolish it.