ESTATE’S NOT-SO MEAN STREETS ARE OFFERING A ‘FRESH START TO THE EAST MARSH’
Last Friday night I met up with Paul Smith the new crime reporter from the Grimsby Telegraph, PC Bev Pattinson and PCSO Chris Broughton at Hamilton Street Police Station.
A Friday night, and a few years back I would not have taken this gamble but I decided to take Paul on a tour of the East Marsh just to show him and the Grimsby Telegraph readers how things have improved in recent years. Even Paul himself, admitted that East Marsh has suffered from bad press in the past, through high rates crime and boarded up properties but now crime is falling dramatically – month by month.
Nonetheless, even before we left police station I was a little nervous of what could go wrong; or would it be magnificent success! But obviously the best way to judge an area is to see it first hand, and that was reason why I asked Paul to come out and judge the East Marsh for himself.
Briefly before we went out into the ‘lion’s den’, I told Paul, that last month in January we had seen the lowest recorded month for recorded crime with only 1309 crimes across the whole of the borough and February was possibly going to improve on those figures. Importantly month on month in the East Marsh ward crime is being driven down; this is great news for the local residents – and it’s all down to the great partnership working with the council, Humberside Police, Shoreline Housing Partnership, East Marsh Involve, other partner agencies and of course the local community.
PC Pattinson told the Grimsby Telegraph: “The level of anti-social behaviour in this area has definitely gone down of late. “We have our PCSOs out on the street communicating with the residents and they have the confidence to give intelligence to us as result, it has helped no end.”
6.55pm, on the corner of Rutland Street and Tunnard Street: Paul Smith wrote in the Grimsby Telegraph: A one-time crime hotspot, according to Cllr Beasant. He said: “This area was notorious a couple of years back for gangs of youths hanging out. About 20 or 30 youths would gather from 4pm to midnight. “It is the reason why we have got the boarded-up properties here now, unfortunately. “The young people used to hang out on the corners and in the middle of the street and on their bikes, not letting people go past them. “It was nothing violent, but was intimidating to people like myself. “It was uncomfortable and it left a scar on me. We had to do something about it and things are beginning to happen now. “We have seen a massive reduction in crime here which is really. It is breath of fresh air,
People are feeling a lot more confident in their neighbourhood. “I used to get two or three calls every single day just about this corner.“Every month, it used to be a priority for the police. Now it never appears on their agenda.”
This is the first of a number of articles that will appear on this website, following on from Paul Smith’s excellent report in tonight’s Grimsby Telegraph – keeping looking for further details, and reports.
To view the video on the Grimsby Telegraph website, click: HERE
DEMOLITION work on Grimsby’s Guildford Street will officially begin next month – heralding a new dawn for the troubled area.
