Written by Marie Jackson, and published on the This Is Sutton site at http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/local_london/sutton/

Residents are hitting back with people power to combat mounting fears that young vandals have been tightening their stranglehold on the St Helier estate. Complaints that residents were becoming prisoners in their own homes and life on the graffiti-splattered estate was a living hell poured into the Comet in July. At the time, tempers flared into verbal assaults on the authorities for their lack of action. Now that tempers have simmered, residents have joined forces with police, the council, London buses, councillors and local MP Tom Brake to engage in a 90-minute brainstorming session. At a meeting on Wednesday night at the Riverside Centre, in the heart of the trouble spot, calls were made for more CCTV and police officers to tackle the trouble-hit estate. Graffiti, arson and tackling young troublemakers were some of the major concerns of residents living in Durand Close and the Middleton Circle area.

One mum called for teenage vandals to take responsibility for their actions, saying: My son was no saint. When he was 14 he sprayed graffiti behind a shop. The shopkeeper reported it to me, so I gave my son a bucket, brush and bleach and made him scrub it off. Another spoke of her horror at the soaring number of fires in the area: In two weeks, there have been three fires. Its getting closer and closer to my house. Behind, in Poulters Park, there is woodland where kids make camps and do drugs. I have asked the council to chop down woodland, but they say its natural. A volcano is natural but I dont want that at the bottom of my garden. Voluntary sector and community services manager Gordon Falconer agreed to suggest to the council to thin out the woodland to make it less of a hide-out.

A spokesman for London Buses said graffiti on bus shelters is high on the companys agenda. Sutton is particularly badly hit by graffiti. The solution is not to take bus shelters out, but we will clean them up within 24 hours. And one resident, together with a Sutton beat officer, claims an experiment to paint over graffiti on garden fences as soon as it appears, is working. Curfews for young yobs always in trouble are under consideration, although there is not a lot of experience around, said Suttons Chief Inspector David Chinchen. Sometimes we will clean up graffiti and then watch the same spot to catch them. Schools work closely with us so we can identify whose tags are whose, he said.

MP Tom Brake called for wider use of radar guns, summer schemes to involve a larger number of children and ways to get residents involved. Chief Insp Chinchen added radar guns are being used, and police are tackling speeding alongside other issues. Mr Falconer agreed: We have a range of summer scheme services but clearly not enough. He encouraged other residents wanting to make a difference to unite in residents associations, saying it will help authorities get the whole picture.

03 September 2001