Kingsway Villagers

Noting the number of posts which deal with crime and anti-social behaviour in the area, I was prompted to look into Gloucestershire Constabularies Community Policing policy and neighbourhood policing scheme for Kingsway Village (link removed as the page no longer exists… read my comment below).

Kingsway falls into the Quedgeley, Hardwicke, Elmore and Longney community for these matters and a look at their website (linked above) reveals that their priorities are:

1. To combat anti-social behaviour at Kingsway through enforcement, anti-social behaviour orders, acceptable behaviour contracts and community engagement with partners and residents to find long-term solutions.

2. To prevent and detect offences of criminal damage at Kingsway through high profile patrol, target hardening, education work with local schools and youth clubs.

There’s a lot of very useful, detailed information available on the site and they actively and enthusiastically invite local residents to “have a say and participate in the way your area is policed” with comments like “Come on residents of Quedgeley and Hardwicke, what are your priorities and concerns?”

Contact the Kingsway Community Police Team on 0845 090 1234.

Residents of Valley Gardens Kingsway, have been overrun by troublesome teens in the local childrens park/play area where groups of youths have apparently been drinking, vandalising and indulging in other anti-social behaviour over the last few months.

The police have been called out so many times to deal with problems that they invited local residents and youths to meet with them at the park to discuss the problem.

Many people heard rumours that the park might actually be closed but the Quedgeley parish council have dealt with many similar problems and a representative of QUVL said that option would not be considered unless all other possible solutions had been exhausted.

The meeting discussed a range of options including regular patrols and security cameras and it was agreed that they would increase general police presence in the area for the forseeable future.

At around 3am yesterday morning (6th October) some unknown person(s) entered a local back garden and tried to remove the bolt housing from the gate latch, then found that the padlock wasn’t closed, took it off and tried to undo the bolt (too stiff to do so quietly), gave up and left!

Fortunately the resident was still up, heard a noise and turned on the light prior to looking out of the back window. Although nobody was spotted, it seems probable that the person(s) were deterred at this point… The only sign of anything “untoward” was marks around the bolt-housing screws and the padlock, which was found in the garden.

We assume the intention was to steal something - probably a bike - which would have made 3 in Thatcham in the last month (see here).

In addition to the fact that most residents have a (nearly) new cycle (also covered in the entry linked above), many local fences, gates and gateposts - being new and constructed of untreated timber - have warped and shifted, causing bolts and locks to become difficult to close securely.

Perhaps a local neighbourhood watch or some other forms of security (cameras for instance) might allow us all to nip this in the bud and establish Kingsway as a determined crime-free zone right now.

Meanwhile we (obviously) encourage Kingsway residents to ensure that your gate can be securely locked, lock up your bikes and try not to leave them “on display”.

Last week (Wednesday or Thurday) we had a pushbike stolen from our back garden and one of our neighbours had the same problem a week earlier!

His was a red and grey Appollo XC.26 - as new - with black tape on the saddle and ours was a blue and white Appollo XC.26 (mens) bike with damage to the front cogs (so restricted to only 7 gears instead of the normal 21), no bell (normally standard but we took it off to give to one of the boys) and no front reflector (same thing - lol).

So if you happen to see one laying around or get offered one for sale which fits either description, I’d be most grateful if you’d let me know, or (if it’s ours) you can call the local police on 0845-0901234 and mention incident number #353 dated 9/9/07 (when we first noticed - lol).

It might be advisable to make sure your bikes are locked up. Ours were both in our back gardens but my gate didn’t shut properly (does now… just in time - lol) so the thief/thieves came into our gardens to get them!

It would also be very interesting to know if anybody else has had the same problem recently… The “on yer bike” cycle scheme may be an invitation that local thieves are unable to resist!

Please ring me or register and post a comment about any similar problems; it’s part of the reason why the site was created.