Vandalised Trees
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008Following the blatant vandalism of - all but one of - the young trees lining the pathway between Mount Pleasant and the childrens play park on Valley Gardens, we have been informed by Bloor Homes (who are responsible for the upkeep of this strip of land) that “Unfortunately, we are unable to do anything in relation to vandalism and will not be replacing the trees. Obviously, this isn’t the answer you’ll want to hear but unfortunately, vandalism is out of our control.”
This means that if the vandals keep on the way they are going Kingsway will end up a bleak place to live. We apprecaite that developers should not have to cover the cost of vandalism but who then is accountable for this?
The young vandals seem to be running amok without any recompense whatsoever.
Surely something needs to be done to keep our village looking scenic and a pleasant place to live?
May 30, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I am pleased to hear some feedback on my previous comments.
That is one way to try to keep Kingsway a pleasant place to reside, get organised into Residents Association or something similar which is on the cards I believe.
Also pleased to hear that Bloor homes have accepted some responsibility for the trees…thanks on behalf of folk at Quedgeley Parish Council for pointing this out. Three cheers for a Council!
Yes CCTV can and does help in identifying the culprits responsible but doesn’t get to the root of the problem, "why vandalise the trees in the first place"? Ok this is not a sociological forum …so I shan’t put any suggestions forward.
All in all, I hope Kingsway continues to be a pleasant place to live…but large number of houses will create a few problems, lets hope they are only small and manageable.
On a brighter note there are some well established trees and beautiful gardens in Kingsway to admire.
Tatty bye
May 29, 2008 at 8:46 am
Bloor should make good before adoption, but if they are sensible then they will plant the trees the day before adoption to reduce costs. Then this becomes the local council’s problem. When they are next vandalised, they will claim that the repair budget will need to be allocated in the following year’s allowances.
The only way to prevent this is through local residents identifying those responsible or by their parents taking responsibility and explaining to their children that destroying property is wrong.
May 27, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Since we originally spoke to Bloor, after further communication with them they have now agreed to re-plant the area and I quote: "What we’ll do it replace the trees during the normal planting season of November to March……. Unfortunately, no matter what we do, I’m sure the vandals will strike again so obviously, we’re not going to rush into replacing them, especially if the growing season would detrimentally affect them."
Its a ‘catch twenty-two’ really, yes Bloor are responsible for the land but why should they stump up the cost of replacements when as they quite rightly say, the trees are probably going to be trashed again?
In reply to one of the comments on this blog, this incident was reported to the Police and the Police did attend this incident, but this seems to be a total waste of time even though they are aware of who is responsible. I’m sure that when/if the trees are replanted its only a matter of time before they are damaged again and then what? While this gang culture seems to be prevalent on our estate what chance have we got? Meanwhile we now are looking at broken stumps and an unsightly pathway all summer long.
May 27, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hi lifeboat,
Please read my comment again (in context); I’m not “worried about the cost” of CCTV (and we weren’t talking about the underpass, we were talking about the approach to the small park, which is a different matter entirely).
I would be the first to agree that CCTV would be a great help for the underpass since my son (who was 15 at the time) was assaulted by a drunk (adult) there some 15 months ago!
If I recall correctly, during our recent meeting with some local councillors (detailed here), we were told that the bus bollard and CCTV for the underpass, are both “in hand” and should be expected fairly soon…
The bus bollard is expected to be operational from June 9th (I don’t recall being given a date for the CCTV).
I also believe that most of our “ASB” problems have been caused by youths from outside of the Village, and I read in a recent article in The Citizen that Quedgeley/Hardwicke was amongst the City areas which have performed better in recent months in this respect. Moving here from a considerably worse area of Gloucester, I have to say that it’s the nicest part of the City I’ve lived in, so I’m a little reluctant to start predicting doom and gloom when most local residents have - so far - found the area to be a very friendly and pleasant place to live. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to take all possible precautions and measures to ensure that it stays that way (or - in the case of the underpass - improves), just that I hate the thought of creating a bad reputation for the Village unnecessarily!
May 26, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I agree with what Cucco says “I think it will be a bleak place to live in 5-10 yrs time… Early vandalism doesn’t bode well for the future”. Various issues have been raised with vandalism and graffiti namely at what I shall call the “Matalan underpass”; the Bus bollard has still not been fixed and racist and offensive graffiti on walls, with continued dumping of shopping trolleys and building materials combined with often large gatherings of youths throwing stones, urinating and shouting abuse; fortunately I have sent many emails and I am assured something is happening to combat this but I have yet to see any results. Kingsway would be an ideal place to promote CCTV but Clive is worried about the cost!
I have also suggested a device called “The Mosquitto”, a device than can only be heard by teenagers and obmits a high pitched frequency that stops gatherings of youngsters for long periods of time, tried tested and proven by councils to stop anti social behaviour.
Please dont get me wrong I have a young lad myself but I beleive that the vandalism is not caused by children from Kingsway but others from within Quedgeley, making our village a dump and giving it a poor reputation.
May 22, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hi Peter,
Thank you very much for your input… Which coincides with the reply I received from Trevor Cribb (QUVL) who said:
"The word is that if this area is within the Bloors land parcel, they should be maintaining this for a period of ‘xx’ number of years after completion.
It may well be that they would want this area adopted by the Local Authority at some stage, in which case they should be keeping the maintenance up to scratch until then perhaps.
Bottom line is, Bloors are responsible and they need pressing on their true obligations… engaging them in some querying conversation in that respect would seem to be the answer,
Hope it helps,
Trevor "
Pleasant,
Now that we have this confirmation, perhaps you could contact Bloor again about this.
Alternatively, please let us know who you spoke to / how you contacted them, so that the Residents Association can take this matter up with them
May 22, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hi Cucco,
Thanks for joining and posting.
I have a feeling that Kingsway will improve as time goes by; it’s already the nicest part of Gloucester I’ve lived in. A little anti-social behaviour won’t change that and - considering the amount of similar problems experienced all over the City/County/Country and the “attraction” of new areas, buildings and plants to these mindless idiots - I don’t think things are too bad.
Working together is indeed the answer. Organisations like the Residents Association, Neighbourhood Watch, Police and Parish Council will help us put a stop to this sort of stupidity. I also have no problems with CCTV (except the expense).
May 22, 2008 at 3:21 pm
It appears that the information you were given may well be incorrect. If the trees in question form a part of the planning permission then when the open space is adopted by the Local Council the developer will be required to ensure that - at the time of adoption - the trees are in place.
It would be extremely helpful if - when any local resident sees such damage being done - they could inform the police, especially if they are able to identify the culprits.
To defeat the vandals it is essential that we all work together as there are no easy answers to the problem.
Peter Richardson
Parish Clerk
May 21, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Hi Kingsway,
I think it will be a bleak place to live in 5-10 yrs time…early vandalism doesnt bode well for the future. Someone with no respect for their immeadiate environment….the karma will catch up. What does one expect Bloor homes to say or do about the vandalism?
CCTV…hope not! Neighbourhood watch ? does it work? I aint got any answers…only to say ‘just look around you and the vandals are in your midst’.
Perhaps each household plant a tree.
cucco
May 21, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Hi Pleasant,
Thanks for joining and contributing
It is sad that the trees were damaged, the remaining one is beautiful indeed and we were wondering - when we saw them recently - what had happened to the rest.
A sad response from Bloor Homes, ‘though I suppose it isn’t reasonable to expect them to have to deal with this type of issue
Pending the formation of the Residents Association (which will be a great resource for this type of issue) I will speak to the QUVL and the Quedgeley Parish Council about it and see if I can get any answers.