Stafford Walking Street put on hold.

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Yeah, was something like Staffordshire Police Activity Club E.......

My mum used to volunteer every year, and we'd be on stuff most days, it was great. We even shot live ammo at Whittington Barracks, things were a bit different back then! A mate broke both arms falling off the assault course and we just carried on like nothing happened.
 

airbusA346

Well-Known Forumite
No, that's kinda my point, all the funding for that sort of stuff has been cut. More police will help but the root of the problem is the kids are bored.
Even if activities etc were available, it wouldn't surprise me if the kids causing trouble wouldn't attend.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Yeah, was something like Staffordshire Police Activity Club E.......

My mum used to volunteer every year, and we'd be on stuff most days, it was great. We even shot live ammo at Whittington Barracks, things were a bit different back then! A mate broke both arms falling off the assault course and we just carried on like nothing happened.
It still exists to some extent.


This may be updated at some point...

 

GNM67

Well-Known Forumite
So kids today are just inherently worse than kids 30 years ago?
1. With the rise of the internet and social media (this is why we can't have nice things)
2. the violent and realistic video games
3. Parents no longer allowed to discipline or unwilling to
 

gilbert grape

Well-Known Forumite
However busy, stimulated or educated kids are, this is surely bout respect, above all else.
It's then down to the law to control them, if and when caught, and to see any punishment through.
If you can come down hard on peaceful protests, surely you can control kids FFS!
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
However busy, stimulated or educated kids are, this is surely bout respect, above all else.
It's then down to the law to control them, if and when caught, and to see any punishment through.
If you can come down hard on peaceful protests, surely you can control kids FFS!
It's easy to come down hard on people that won't fight back!

You are right it's about respect, the kids have never been taught to have any. I doubt the police will be the ones that deal with this, a dodgy local will give one a proper kicking and there will be a huge uproar from the parents, but it'll put a bit of fear into the rest.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
1. With the rise of the internet and social media (this is why we can't have nice things)
2. the violent and realistic video games
3. Parents no longer allowed to discipline or unwilling to
1 and 2 are very debatable, 3 isn't true (unless you mean by violence?) so that leaves unwilling.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
Even if activities etc were available, it wouldn't surprise me if the kids causing trouble wouldn't attend.
It would be a good solution to reducing new yobs, but it wouldn’t do much to sort out the existing ones as they’re already gonna see it as “soft” most likely

Perhaps you might also like to bring some more Tory MP's up to see the market square in action in the evenings? I'm sure HMS Mordaunt, 30p Lee and Mr Gullis would be happy to give us their inputs.

Tell Gullis one of the kids is the son of an immigrant and he’ll be down here in a flash. He loves that sort of thing, makes him froth at the mouth
 

c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
From what I know bikes aren't allowed on the pedestrians post of town, but I would hope that any cyclist is being ticketed and they are not just targeting the young ones. And for the record, I'm as keen a cyclist as they come and never ride on the pedestrianised bit....
 

GNM67

Well-Known Forumite
There were loads of cyclists old and young riding through the high street the afternoon.
 

joshua

Well-Known Forumite

'We don't want our town centre to be like Stoke' says worried festival boss​

A meeting was called to discuss issues in Stafford town centre after rowdy behaviour marred a popular monthly event

A festival boss worried about anti-social behaviour in Stafford town centre says "we don't want it to be like Stoke".

Stafford Walking Street organiser Lorraine Conkey spoke out at a public meeting after her latest event was marred by 'taunting and jeering' youths 'facing off' stewards in Tipping Street And teenagers riding bikes in the town centre - breaching a cycling ban imposed by the borough council as part of a Public Space Protection Order - responded with verbal abuse when asked to dismount, while a man was spat on after he asked a young cyclist to stop doing wheelies near a pram, she said..

Meanwhile, human excrement has been found in the area behind a Stafford church - and security fencing is now being considered in a bid to deter drug dealers and other trespassers. A church warden at St Chad's - the town centre's oldest building - spoke out about how the grounds were being misused during a meeting called to discuss antisocial behaviour concerns in Stafford.

Town centre traders and business owners also spoke out about incidents including young people climbing scaffolding and intimidating behaviour towards staff and customers during the discussion on Tuesday (June 6). The meeting was arranged by Ms Conkey, who organises the popular monthly Stafford Walking Street, and attended by borough and county councillors, as well as the town's Chief Inspector Giles Parsons and Staffordshire's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams.


READ: Police warning as teenage trespassers risk lives with prank

People who spoke at Tuesday's meeting highlighted CCTV coverage - and said incidents were happening in areas not covered by cameras. Church warden Ian Carr said: "We have had a lot of issues around the back of St Chad's, one of them being drugs.


"We have had to pick up human excrement and the remnants of nights out like beer bottles. We're looking to put up security fencing on the the north east and north west side to stop people taking a short cut."


0_The-area-at-the-back-of-St-Chads-Church-in-Stafford-town-centre.jpg

(Image: Kerry Ashdown)
He added that there had also been issues with food delivery services blocking the church car park. "They have even parked on St Chad's with their motorbikes - it is becoming a complete nuisance", he said.


Borough councillor Marnie Philips, who works in the town centre, said: "We have had people defecating and doing drugs at the back of our shop. We have also witnessed young cyclists coming up Eastgate Street en masse, riding straight into traffic, kicking at cars and being abusive."

Tim Sandy said: "In and around the back of Greggs and Boots the area feels at the moment like gangland. We have had large groups of kids gathering, they access the roof at the back of Greggs and the Guildhall."

Ms Conkey said antisocial behaviour had escalated in the town centre and she was concerned for the safety of visitors to Stafford Walking Street, who range in age from babies to the over 90s. And after she revealed what had happened at the May event she received many responses from town centre businesses and organisations sharing their own experiences.

Ms Conkey said "I thought forget about Walking Street, it's not about that. It's about what we can do to try and help save Stafford town centre.

"We don't want it to be like Stoke, where you have people on monkey dust. Stafford is a great town and we don't want it to be a no-go area.

"I put it on social media to make it known, so we can address this. Everyone has a duty of care to come together."

Mr Adams said: "Some of what you have said isn't new, but some is quite new, worrying and disturbing. When Lorraine made her concerns public it was a bit of a surprise to me - Stafford hasn't been at the top of my radar for a while.

"However it has been happening and it has been escalating. The key thing for me is what can we do more of to tackle this type of behaviour, especially when we have young people at risk of getting themselves into very serious trouble or at risk of injuring themselves or others with their activities."

Chief Inspector Parsons told the meeting that police had been cracking down on people defying the town centre cycling ban in recent weeks. "We have issued 37 tickets over the last two to three weeks to people breaching the PSPO and we are listening to community issues", he said.

"We have done a lot more enforcement and Stafford Borough Council have joined us during that enforcement. I can't promise you overnight it will stop people cycling in town but it is something we are certainly tackling.

"We have used drones in Stafford town centre and we have made six arrests in the past couple of weeks specifically dealing with town centre antisocial behaviour. We are using community protection warning notices and every enforcement option at our disposal to make sure we are taking robust action.

"Stafford Borough Council are responsible for CCTV in town and we regularly work with the council as part of our community safety team of officers and PCSOs. We do get incidents reported to us by CCTV operators.

"We always aim to have a visible presence in town but there are times when officers are committed to dealing with other incidents. We can't guarantee we are going to be everywhere but we listen to people's concerns, which is why we have significantly increased our patrolling of Stafford town centre and we are committed to continuing that."

"I know Stafford has for many years had a town centre partnership and we want to hear from you. We would like to make sure we come to that meeting to continue to engage with you and hear your concerns so you can help point us in the right direction."
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
These little shits are becoming more and more brazen, and that twat that got famous recently (and arrested multiple times) just emboldens them. Never used to be like this…

Oh god, I’m getting old aren’t I?
 
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