Kingsway Villagers

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”.

I’m afraid I underestimated the severity of my cold/flu bug and it came back to haunt me again - lol.

We’ve also had a busy spell just recently, so I have yet to sort out the pictures and site publicity, but we have been working on information sources and support from some other local resources so we are proceeding… albeit a little slowly.