Kingsway Villagers

39 Responses to “General Concerns: State of Kingsway”

1. Clive Says:
   February 20th, 2009 at 6:26 pm

   Hi Tony,

   Thanks for posting

   There are certainly some things in there which are not true:

   1. Last I heard (6 weeks ago) the current level of Social Housing is (substantially) below that which was originally planned… AFAIK, original plans were in line with the Governement Guidelines for new developments.

   2. Whilst it is true that the various “Housing Associations” pay less than private tenants and may therefore be seen as “ready money” during times like these, it’s worth noting that a large proportion of their tenants are "part-buyers". Like everyone else (and probably more than most), these people are also affected by the "credit crunch" and are struggling – during the current climate – to arrange mortgages. This has had a "knock-on effect" on the Housing Associations and so they have not been in a position to take on as many houses as they had originally planned (let alone taking on more)!
   (This information was given to me by an official representative of Gloucester Housing Association).
   It’s also worth remembering that – unlike private landlords – the Social Housing groups all make financial (and other) contibutions towards the community.

   3. This sentence I find staggering: "Until the School opened, we had all the children coming to our school and they are not a nice bunch"…
   Whilst awaiting the opening of the school my daughter was taken to Beeches Green Primary by coach every day… She’s 4 years old (and she’s one of the sweetest human beings I’ve ever known)! All of her friends are of a similar age and they all seem like a nice normal bunch of children to me! How on earth could anybody – particularly a "teacher" – categorise a bunch of 4-5 year-olds as "not a nice bunch"?

   Other than that I have to say that I have met many many people in Kingsway and (still) find it a lovely friendly place to live.

   I’m also the Kingsway representative on the local Community Police Neighbourhod Panel and residents are free to submit Community Police Reports on this website (or manually – by getting a form from me) and I’ve had far fewer of these submitted since the start of this year.

   I’ve no doubt that there are some elements of truth in some of those rumours (at times like these petty crime will undoubtedly be increasing), but Kingsway Village is far more pleasant than my previous neighbourhood (a very sought-after area of Gloucester)!

2. lis Says:
   February 20th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

   Well said Clive!

   The above statement in my opinion, is a ludicrous bunch of bull’ (but then I’m HA, so I must be biased as mine must be a poor, problem family)! My son goes to the new school, he is on free school meals as I am on a low wage, but my son is a very well behaved and polite child, also several of his friends are some of the nicest children I have come across.

   I am so sick of people assuming that people on HA are trouble. Let’s just hope the person that wrote that statement never lands on hard times as God forbid anyone should have to have financial help from the Governement.

   I have come across a couple of rough little sods on this estate, but they are everywhere, regardless of the housing estate. I recently moved from a problem estate, where drugs were being sold practically on our doorstep, so in my opinion – from what I have seen and experienced here in almost a year – the person who wrote this wants to get a grip and stop blummin’ talking rubbish they know nothing about!

   BTW hope you’re all enjoying half term

3. Clive Says:
   February 21st, 2009 at 4:07 pm

   Hi Lis – Thanks for posting. (I can’t wait for half-term to end so I can get on with some work lol)

   TonyG – One point I didn’t address in my previous reply, with regard to pavements: Baz_k and I recently had a very fruitful meeting with Andrew Hunter and I am currently putting together an article about the points we discussed (which is taking rather a long time because I’ve been very busy with my business since January 1st). We discussed road surfacing and pavements. It’s quite a complex issue but they are – of course – going to be finished ASAP; the only issue is how long it will take for construction traffic to be successfuly re-routed so that the new surface won’t be damaged. Once that’s possible the roads and pavements will be finished.

4. Baz_k Says:
   February 21st, 2009 at 8:08 pm

   TonyG et al,

   Firstly looking at the state of Crime within Kingsway and it’s residents. I can pretty categorically say that there is no way we are as bad as some areas in Gloucester. As some will know, I am a local Magistrate and can honestly say I have only every seen/heard 3 mentions of Kingsway in Court in the past 18 months. There are some areas of Gloucester that I hear of far more often. Also if all this bad behaviour is happening, they must be very good at hiding it, as I have lived in Coney Hill, and this certainly isn’t anything like it.

   As for the estate development, as Clive mentioned, we had a meeting with Andy Hunter about the progress and future works. He has been very helpful and more will be coming on-line about this shortly, however some pertinent points were that “social housing” is still not at the quota that was originally planned, so there is no misrepresentation. Also most of the social housing is actually part owned.

   The house sales did bottom out, not unpredictably, however the Builders have apparently seen the beginnings of an upturn, and I guess this is evidenced by the fact that a lot of them have started building again.

   I’m thinking that from the way your email was phrased, it did not come from a Kingsway teacher. As an ex governor, I know that the staff of Kingsway are very proud of what they have achieved (rightly so) as the school is great and the kids are really making a contribution. I do know that Ms Needham (The Head) reads this occasionally and would invite her to comment, as I have not had much contact with the school since Christmas.

   So, in summary, I wouldn’t run for the hills yet

5. TonyG Says:
   February 23rd, 2009 at 8:00 pm

   Hi guys,

   many thanks for your responses, it’s really great to get them which is what I hoped after my post. Lis, apologies if I caused offence but I’ve no problem with anyone I was just relaying what I was told which like I said absolutely stunned me, I’m glad you all felt the same way.

   I am sorry to say though that since I wrote this I have heard of 2 incidents on Thatcham Avenue, 1 a mugging 2 weeks or so ago and this morning apparently several cars had their tyres slashed in in the early hours of this morning; not good!

   I guess the point of my posts is that I love my house and like you guys have said have made some great friends and met some lovely, friendly people but I don’t want to be forced into a decision to move because of a few bad eggs that are running riot. As a first time buyer this house was my first major investment and with the credit crunch etc I don’t want to feel trapped if things don’t turn out as I had hoped with the estate. That’s all really.

   TG

6. MissC Says:
   February 23rd, 2009 at 10:55 pm

   To be honest, I think if you say that you don’t think this estate is what it started out being, then you must be either blind or ignoring it.
   When we first moved here it was half built, had a certain clean, quiet atmosphere. Now it is dirty, cars parked all over the place, dog mess, rubbish just thrown anywhere, trollies dumped, graffitti on lamp posts and underpass, there’s probably more.
   Some can say you get this anywhere but really to this extent?
   I thought this was going to be a nice estate, out of the way and ‘nice’, I am going to wait ’til house prices rise (maybe they won’t ’round here now though) and move.

   I used to not mind going out in the dark I really don’t fancy doing it now!

7. kinswaypain Says:
   February 25th, 2009 at 12:35 pm

   I got to be honest I want out now

   I live on Thatcham Avenue and it’s getting worse by the day I’m sorry to say… I just had my car tyre knifed along with several people in my street.

   I’ve grown up in Quedgeley and I know a lot of the trouble makers, drug dealers and general scum; imagine my horror when I see them walking past my house!

   I think we all by now realise what’s happening – the developers are selling more of the homes to HA. I am in the process of accessing with a friend – who luckily happens to be a top solicitor – to see if I have been mis-sold my property. What this means is, if you have been told that only a certain number of HA will be in the area or you have the map showing which streets are private etc – HOLD ONTO IT. I will keep everyone posted on how were getting on but believe me when I say that because of the market this is happening all over the country to new estates like ours.
   I for one am not standing for it.

8. Clive Says:
   February 25th, 2009 at 12:49 pm

   Hi kp,

   Sorry to hear about your car

   Seems like you missed the part where I said "Last I heard (6 weeks ago) the current level of Social Housing is (substantially) below that which was originally planned"!

   As for the comments about HA tenants, I find it curious how some folks automatically assume that more HA tenants means more anti-social problems, criminals drug-dealers, general scum etc… Presumably if you ever lose your job through (for example) long-term illness and find yourself unable to find work or keep your mortgage, you’ll "automatically" become a criminal too?

9. lis Says:
   February 25th, 2009 at 6:45 pm

   Quick everybody….grab a suitcase and run for the hills!!!! The Social housing people are moving in….quick run for your lives, from all us people who can’t afford a morgage….run..run…RUNNNNNN. Oh wait where are you going to run to? Where in this country can you go where EVERYBODY can afford there own homes?? Get a grip, its not HA tennents you need to be running from, its the criminals and losers…who btw live on kingsway, and white city and brockworth, and gloucester town, and rugby and the cotswold…shall i go on? It makes me so cross when I see people like Kp make blanket assumptions about people in a HA home. If you hate living around people who cannot afford a morgage so much why don’t you just bugger off to the middle of nowhere!!

10. Ashley Says:
    February 25th, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    I don’t think anyone is saying all HA tenants are bad and we know this is not the case, however if the worst offenders are unemployed crooks then they are council tenants by definition! They are spoiling the area for all the law abiding HA tenants and private owners.

    I feel sorry for the good HA tenants as my understanding is you have no choice where you live, but I do have a choice and I bought here and was promised certain things in my contract.
    HA tenants have nothing financially to lose by living in a bad area but I do, I have already lost 50k on my house and if the area keeps on going the way it is I will never see this money back even if I could see my house.

    When the QUVL say that less there are less HA houses than originally planned is total guff, as a minimum there would be the exact amount developers were contracted to! What they probably mean is that less HA houses are occupied than the total amount planned when the estate is supposed to be completed!

    I had my tyres slashed and it cost me £300 to replace them, so don’t blame me for wanting out, if it turns out that more houses are HA than originally stipulated by the developer then it is clearly a breach of contract.

    Kingswaypain I would be greatful if you could keep me updated with what you find out?

11. Clive Says:
    February 25th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    Hi Ashley,

    I fixed up the errors for you and removed your apology!

    FYI – it wasn’t the QUVL who gave me that information, it was 2 representatives from 2 (different) HA groups and was later confirmed by a representative from the Developers. Also, it was based on the percentage of houses currently occupied, not the total expected amount.

12. Ashley Says:
    February 25th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    when I bought my Bryant house on the plans they had "Social Housing" and "Affordable Housing". My understanding is that "Affordable Housing" are the ones which are from "Housing Associations" and tend to be shared equity, and the "Social Housing" is traditional "Council-type" Housing Association.
    Am I right?
    And if so how many more have been sold for Social Housing?

13. soundaim Says:
    February 25th, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    Ashley I fully support your comments and feel most strongly that the state of Kingsway has deteriorated in the 2 years we have been here (BTW I too had my tyres slashed and both of my cars keyed all the way down).
    I know how this effects the way in which Kingsway is perceived. What I want to know is what the Police are doing to protect us; from previous experience very little! The message I would like everyone to take away is that us residents should not lay back and take this kind of abuse if we let it happen it will continue to do so. If we wanted to live in a Council Estate I would have moved to one and not paid through the nose for it!

14. MissC Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 12:50 am

    I would too like to hear if we may have a case…
    It is also worth mentioning that even though HA are here and Council Housing too, that there are also private landlords that can rent their houses to Council residents.

    I also missed off my last post, and with much thought since then that, there is obviously either one person or more with a substantial sized knife on them (sharp too) to have slashed quite a few tyres.
    I have noted that this has not been in the local paper! Not that Kingsway needs any bad press.

15. Clive Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 3:56 am

    Ashley,

    In terms of Social Housing, both rented and shared ownership houses are considered as "affordable" under the Government definition.

    The conversations I had were with regard to the total level of Social Housing.

    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – – - –

    Folks,

    The perception/implication that the value of houses on Kingsway is worse than average because we have a large number / proportion of “Social Housing tenants” is flawed because we do not and because Kingsway reported an upturn in recent house sales, out-performing most (if not all) other new developments around the City (the – obvious – implication being that house values will be more stable here if new houses are selling).

    The perception/implication that the local crime rate is up, and the streets dirty etc because we have a large number/proportion of “Social Housing Tenants” is similarly flawed because we don’t (have a large number/proportion) and because you don’t know who is responsible (thus it can also be offensive, ignorant and prejudiced)!

    Social Housing Residents are also victims of crime and vandalism, many of them have probably had to put up with more than most of us and many of them probably have little or no hope of "selling up and getting out" no matter what happens to the housing market.

16. Ashley Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 9:40 am

    Clive, If you look at the majority of the previous posts I am sure that unless you take a very 1 eyed approach you will see that most people have no problem whatsoever with HA tenants in the main part as they are decent law abiding citizens who take a great deal of respect in the area.

    However, the home owners and the HA tenants have no control over the number of bad tenants that move into the area.

    A lot of home owners have shockingly behaved children and seem to take no respect in the area, so we are not saying that it is all HA tenants that are the problem.

    But I am sure you will find that 90% of the lower-end crimes commited, i.e. slashing tyres, burglary, mugging and general anti social behaviour are commited by problem youths are unemployed adults, it is these HA tenants that we ALL have a problem with.

    So if everyone who is saying that we believe all HA tenants are bad, please open both eyes and look at what all of the residents are ACTUALLY saying.

17. Baz_k Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    “But I am sure you will find that 90% of the lower-end crimes commited, i.e. slashing tyres, burglary, mugging and general anti social behaviour are commited by problem youths are unemployed adults, it is these HA tenants that we ALL have a problem with.”

    The statement quoted above is not far wrong, with the exception of the assumption that unemployed adults are just HA tenants. They are just as likely to be children of home owners. Personally I really do not like this link between HA tenants and crime without any real evidence to back it up. It stigmatises a certain group of people with no real foundation.

    Also the reported crime rate in Kingsway is quite low when taken into comparison to the rest of the city. There has been a splurge of tyre-slashing around different areas of the City in the past couple of weeks (as reported in the Citizen), so this leads me to think that this is a roving bunch of criminals, not neccesarily living in Kingsway.

    If moving to kingsway, you thought that there would be no crime, ever, isn’t that a bit naiive (short of making it a gated community)? Don’t get me wrong, I would love there to be no problems at all here, either with crime, or with the development. However, in reality there will be crime, and the main way of tackling it is to make sure it is known about and reported to the Police.

18. Ashley Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    Baz my point was that the youths could be from any type of home but it is the adults that commit the crimes are statistically from social housing.

19. Salz Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 7:41 pm

    I dont think it’s fair just to blame it on the people in Social Housing.
    I did live near Thatcham Avenue and it was horrible – people speeding up and down the street – (the main culprit is not an HA tenant), dogs barking day & night… again, it was not HA, shouting and swearing going on all evening, walking past the HA houses and continuing on up.

    I have now moved to a different area of Kingsway, and it is lovely. It is quiet and peaceful – no screeching cars and I can go to sleep on a Saturday night.

    So it is only certain roads that are a problem… You tell me where in Gloucester this is any different?

20. sar.jas Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 9:04 pm

    Hi All,

    Just to say that I am well connected with the School and I can tell you that the teachers there are of a really high standard, and they do their utmost to liaise with both the “problematic children” and their parants/carers to work through these problems. Some of that work is continued out of school too.
    This I’m sure you will agree, can only be a positive thing and should in turn show a positive impact on the community as a whole.

    Why dont we focus on some of the positives instead of the negatives all the time it’s getting kind’ve tiresome, even if we do need to be aware of these incidents

21. Daisily Says:
    February 28th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    It has been mentioned earlier but I think you will find that some/most of the problems are from private rentals and not necessarily HA/Social Housing. If this is the case and you complain to the builders they are aware of who owns these houses (if its still in first buyers name) and can contact them. I know of this happening and familes have been moved out.

    I think we also need to look at whether it is the people on the Kingsway causing the problem or whether it is people coming onto the estate from elsewhere.

    Going back to the opening post. Even if 2/29 pupils were from Private housing that doesnt mean a thing. How many people bought houses here as an investment to rent out…. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look around the estate and see all of the “bought” houses with “To Let/Let” boards outside or even empty houses with for sale signs on to see how many have been bought to live in or to rent out.

    It does concern me however that on a weekly basis I have seen Police flashing lights/ sirens coming onto the estate. I wonder whether there are statistics somewhere?

22. woodvale1 Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    To be honest I totally agree, it’s supposed to be a really nice area.

    A house in Leeming walk got raided today; apparently it was a secret Cannabis Factory! I know this because my husband caught someone trying to break in yesterday & phoned the Police, which led to the raid today (Police cordoned the house off etc).

    I am shocked by this. I walk past this house every day with my children on the way to school and it worries the hell out of me!

    I saw a raid van not long ago at the bottom end of Woodvale as one of the houses was “doing drugs”.

    How are people like this allowed to live in nice houses?

    I just don’t feel safe at all in Kingsway!

23. MissC Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 10:01 pm

    There was a raid van in Holbeach Drive for a good 3 hours this afternoon; perhaps this was linked?

    I don’t know… it seems that this is going to turn out to be one of those estates! I haven’t anything good to say these days. Although feel guilty as we all should come together and do something about it, but not enough people want to, or are too busy.

24. Clive Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 10:11 am

    Hi woodvale1,
    Whatever made you think that drug users didn’t live in “nice houses”?
    A visit to Park Lane, Kensington or Chelsea would probably shock you

    Hi MissC,
    I think you’ll find that – like my family, friends and neighbours, the majority of people are quite happy here.
    It’s just human nature to complain about the bad and take the good for granted I guess!
    (I can’t help thinking that all the complaining makes things seem worse though)!

    The Residents Association was formed to try to make this a “better place”, but it seems that very few people have the time/inclination to participate

    Personally I’m totally snowed under right now… Baz and I had a meeting with Andrew Hunter weeks ago and I’m still trying to find the time to publish an article about it

25. TonyG Says:
    March 12th, 2009 at 8:37 pm

    Blimey, loads of responses and in away it’s some relief to see that I’m not alone in my concerns.

    KP definitely keep us posted as I’m sure there are several of us interested to here how things progress.

    Aside from that I’m not sure what else there is we can do. I hear your points Clive about the residents association but then these sorts of organisations are pretty powerless to do anything not to mention the fact that people don’t want to become involved in case of repercussions.

26. chivenormum Says:
    March 15th, 2009 at 10:01 am

    I would just like to state that I live in an HA house and despite the label that HA residents come with, my partner and I both work. He is a construction worker and I work for the Great Weston Ambulance Service as part of the NHS, and we have lived here since the start in july 2006:

    We don’t receive any benefits towards our housing or Council Tax, we pay it ourselves. Our children do not get free school dinners, we pay for them.
    I am also a Parent-Governor at Kingsway School.

    I hope that all those able to afford to buy their own property never ever have to demean themselves when falling upon hard times and end up living in a HA or – heaven forbid – a Council property, my partner and I are both saving to buy our own property and hopefully we will achieve this in the next few years.

    Yes Kingsway is far from perfect but a lot of the graffitti and vandalism occuring does not come from Kingsway residents, a lot of it is from teens coming into Kingsway from Quedgeley.

27. blanky42 Says:
    March 15th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    Please note that a Planning Application has been made to change some future-build on the estate: Area B1 (Off Thatcham Avenue), to Social Housing. The developers are applying to build Social Housing in the place of the private housing they had previously submitted plans for. Objections are invited by the Council Planning Department under Reference 08/01552/REM. There is a 21 day deadline, from 12 March 2009, for objections.

    If you cut and paste the following to your toolbar you should be able to jump straight to the .pdf of the new plans. The housing in the red bordered area now shows social housing where the original planning permission, given on application 06/01155/REM, had private housing.

    (URL removed by admin’, temporary url’s don’t work the next day)!

    If you want to view the full 52 document planning application follow the links through the gloucester.gov.uk/planning website to the separate planning website where you can search on the application ref: 08/01552/REM. There is no text explanation and so you only notice the difference if you knew of the original planning detail.

    Alternatively, to jump straight to the start of the application, go here.

28. blanky42 Says:
    March 15th, 2009 at 8:25 pm

    I’ve just been looking at the old plans (06/01155/REM) and I think (give or take the odd house because the old plans are out of focus) that the actual detail of the new proposal is as follows:

    Persimmon Development: B1

    Under the old proposals, 25% (27 houses and 9 apartments) of the development was designated as Social Housing. Under the new proposals this increases to 40% of the development (47 houses and 9 apartments). Low cost housing (part buy) remains at 4% of the development (7 houses).

    At present, of the homes occupied, 9 (20%) are privately owned and 36 (80%) are Housing Association.

    I wonder if we will see similar applications by other Developers?

29. Clive Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    TonyG,

    Thanks for coming back on this, but – with respect – that last paragraph is… ummm cobblers

    As an elected body, The Residents Association is recognised by Local Government and can have enormous influence over decisions regarding the area and – as for people not wanting to become involved “in case of repercussions” – Since when did people get harassed for being involved with a Residents Association?

    Hi chivenormum,

    Thanks for contributing

    Hi Blanky42,

    Interesting comments…

    Those documents are very confusing!
    If you look at the “Design Principles & Concepts” documents for each application they say:

    06/01155/REM (Original Application)
    30% of the units are allocated for affordable housing giving a total of 43 units which are split into two areas of 17 and 26 units all in accordance with Condition 11 of the Outline Planning Permission.

    08/01552/REM (New Application)
    30% of the units are allocated for affordable housing giving a total of 20 units which are split into two areas of 6 and 14 units all in accordance with discussions and agreements with the LPA.

    I tried to get some input/clarification from Persimmon by calling their local sales office and their Redditch (/Bromsgrove??) office. Sadly, although they sounded very helpful, they failed to get back to me as promised

    However… a reliable source tells me that the application is indeed for an increase in the allocation of Social Housing.
    It shouldn’t come as a surprise though. Persimmon are obviosuly keen to continue building, so as to complete the houses (and their obligations) within budget, but – like everyone else – are struggling to sell them; thus they are attempting to get permission to sell them to somebody with “ready money” – EG: A Housing Association.
    Whether or not they get permission is another matter entirely (personally I think they’re being very optimistic)!

30. Clive Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    Neighbours – Please Note:
    I have had some considerable feedback about this article (and subsequent comments); in fact I thought long and hard about whether or not I should have allowed it to be published in the first place.

    To date I have not censored any contributions (except bad language and rubbish) and I (still) have no inclination to do so because I do sincerely wish for this site to be a “community blog” rather than my personal soapbox, however I will state (for the record) that I neither subscribe to, nor believe the “information” and allogations contained in the original “email quotation” and post.

    As for the subsequent conversation, I believe I have made my postion clear several times (although it seems many of my “requests” for tolerance have gone unheeded), so I will also quote from my Terms and Conditions (which have been in place since long before this thread began) and would – respectfully – ask everybody to read this (again):

    As a comment/post contributor, you warrant that all comments added by you to the Blog:
    1. Are not defamatory, abusive, libelous, obscene, threatening or in any other way likely to cause offence.

31. Ashley Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    Clive,
    You have obviously read something that has been removed as I see nothing on here that would make you post that?

    Also can we have the link back so we can look at the .pdf of the proposed plans please?

32. TonyG Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    Hi all,

    So I thought I’d post a bit of an update concerning my concerns (if that makes sense :p )

    To cut a long story short, I was put in contact with a Police Community Support Officer by Clive who I spoke to on the phone and who paid me a visit with a fellow PC.

    PCSO Devlin and PC Wray spoke to me at length about my concerns and about what action the Police are taking with regards to incidents and community work on the estate. They both seemed really genuine and passionate about making things better and I was shocked to hear of the effect my initial post has had on people within the community and I can only apologise to those affected, particularly people connected with the school.

    It seems however that my post my have had some benefit, one thing that came out of our meeting is that hopefully PCSO Devlin or her colleagues will be looking to play a more active role on this site and forums , thus quashing any “Chinese whispers” before they get out of hand and providing us all with fact rather than fiction. Both PCSO Devlin and PC Wray pointed out the merits of all of us checking out the Police website for detailed information, the link is HERE.

    Another thing that was pointed out to me was that too many people don’t report incidents to the Police and that without these reports the Police can’t do a great deal. So if you see or are on the receiving end of an incident, report it!

    Lastly PCSO Devlin was at pains to point out that if anyone needs any information, re-assurance or just someone to talk to about their issues with the estate then we all should feel free to contact her or her colleagues on the site link above who will be only to happy to help.

    I feel a whole lot better for our conversation and maybe I didn’t appreciate just how much good work is going on and instead only focussed on my own negative issues and hear say as my post itself was based on gossip / rumour and my own opinions / worries and not a factual account of events. It was a post written by a concerned property owner, husband and parent seeking some reassurance, nothing more.

    TonyG

33. Clive Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 3:13 pm

    Ashley,

    You (obviously) weren’t concentrating then!
    It’s all here in black and white my friend!

    First of all – I haven’t removed anything from the comments (I already mentioned that).

    I posted that comment because (as I said):

    I have had some considerable feedback about this article (and subsequent comments);

    That feedback is either on here or was by telephone!

    I can’t put the link back because (as I already said) “it didn’t work”… It was a “temporary” link (means it’s not there anymore)! But – if you follow Blanky’s instructions – you can find the doc’s (like I did) from the other link(s) in his post.

34. Clive Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    Hi TonyG,

    Thanks for that, I’m glad to hear they were able to help you

    It may be that many people have joined the blog just to read this thread and haven’t browsed much more of the site; if so it may be relevant to check this post, where you’ll find the same link as TonyG posted above, as well as information about how you can directly influence Community Police operations in Kingsway.
    Note: When I first built this site, the Police were going to link to it from theirs; but – at the time it was being rebuilt and things have moved on since then… I am hopeful that we can encourage the Police to contribute directly to the site, as that’s something I have been trying to achieve for a long time.

    There is also a link in the site menu above to a Community Police Report Form which is available on this site.

    I have (repeatedly) asked residents to make use of this form not as an alternative to contacting the Police but as a means of helping us to collate information which will allow us to get a clearer picture of the areas where the (Community) Police need to concentrate their activities… I also have paper forms which I can supply to those without internet access, so – if you hear of any local incidents at all – please do approach neighbours and ask them if they have filed a report… If they aren’t able to get online they can get a form from me (my name, address and telephone number are all available here).

35. 15cents Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    Hello All,

    It is sad to see in this day and age that people still get what for from those who are better off.

    I live in H.A housing so I must be scum, the dirt you have to scrape off your shoe, a drug addict/dealer and an alcoholic! Well sorry to disappoint you I am none of the above.

    TONY G, you need to grow up and take your head from out the clouds! Just because you grew up in Birmingham and did not have a great time there, does that mean everyone in Birmingham is bad and does that mean those who live in Kingsway in Social Housing are one of the above? I think not!

    I for one have witnessed residents from the private housing letting their dogs foul on the nearby grass verge without thinking of cleaning it up; a resident from a private home telling her cat, (yes – her cat) not to come on to the Social Housing gardens because she would not get her back! What a weird world we live in!

    Also Tony G, as for your “friend of a friend”, maybe you should tell them to tell the “teacher” who has high opinions of her students to go “on record”. So what if a child has free school meals, did you never have free school meals? I bet you did!.
    BTW – I am an Ex-Police Officer and – in my opinion – what you and your friends are saying is no more than discrimination – Plain and Simple!

36. TonyG Says:
    March 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 am

    15cents with all due respect read my posts before speaking absolute drivel.

    Not once do I mention anything stereotypical about HA tenants or indeed anybody, in fact I’m at pains to point that out in subsequent posts. My issues and worries are directed at the crime and the state of the estate in general (no pavements or roads, dog mess, no new facilities to be built as previously promised etc) which is the same situation I found myself in in former residences albeit with far more serious crime.

    If you were a police officer surely you should have read everything closely before commenting clearly you have not done that.

    As for the school side of things, again I pointed out in my initial posts that these were the views of someone else not me and I was asking people for their comments and thoughts on this to re-assure myself and my family who are in the process of looking for a school for my daughter.

    I posted on this forum without knowing anyone, using it as a means to share my concerns about the direction of the estate and to provoke a response. I’ve been impressed with the information and comments I’ve received from a number of people who have set my mind at rest and improved my outlook in general on the estate.

    Tarnishing me with the same brush as those who have commented in a negative fashion about all HA people is discriminatory as I am sure when you re-read all of the above you’ll see that I don’t .

    I look forward to your apology.

    TG

37. TonyG Says:
    March 23rd, 2009 at 10:52 am

    In addition I’d like to point out that I have spoken to the police about all of the comments raised in my inital post, the impact that post has had on the school (which was not my intention) and offered to write to the school regarding my comments which the police declined.

    I could have ignored the request to do so seeing as it’s all to easy to remain anonymous when posting on forums and things, I wanted to be enlightened, I wanted to have my pre-conceptions and opinions changed by hard facts rather than gossip and rumour and I’m pleased to say that they have been.

    As far as I am concerned this topic for me no longer has any bearing as my concerns have been addressed by the people in the know.

    TG

38. Baz_k Says:
    March 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    “I could have ignored the request to do so seeing as it’s all to easy to remain anonymous when posting on forums and things, I wanted to be enlightened, I wanted to have my pre-conceptions and opinions changed by hard facts rather than gossip and rumour and I’m pleased to say that they have been.

    As far as I am concerned this topic for me no longer has any bearing as my concerns have been addressed by the people in the know.”

    To me this is exactly what this site is for. Nicely put TonyG

39. Clive Says:
    April 16th, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    …and just to put a (final) end to rumours about local crime issues, please see my recent post about the Quedgeley Community Police; in particular the comment about the fact that crime figures for Kingsway Village are statistically lower than the surrounding area(s).

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