Activists show how to make the streets safe again

TEN years before David Cameron coined the phrase Big Society residents of an estate in the small village of Cutsyke on the edge of Castleford were already doing it for themselves.

They were fed up with graffiti, litter, drink, drugs and general vandalism blighting the neighbourhood and feral children running the streets. Many of the 700 people living in this community dissected by Aketon Road didn’t talk to each other and some felt they could not leave their houses after dark because of the gangs of youths committing petty crimes.

People who had lived in Cutsyke for all, or much of their lives, and had become desperate over the way the once rather des-res council development had become run down and forgotten finally reached a tipping point. As they describe it, back in 2000 many houses in every street were lived in by dysfunctional families with drink and or drug problems. Children ran wild, parenting skills were often negligible.

When rumours spread the council was about to knock two houses into one for a large and “difficult” new family, a group of residents got together to resist. They said they were sick of being “dumped on” by a strategy whereby housing managers seemed to think bad residents would be improved by living next door to good ones. Older residents felt under siege, even if some of the danger was only perceived. A dozen or so locals decided to make their feelings known, fight the arrival of yet more troublesome neighbours if they had to, and make their own plan for how to improve the estate. No-one knows if there was truth in the rumour but it proved to be an important catalyst for Cutsyke.

“We were sick of seeing youngsters monopolising the streets,” says 78-year-old retired miner and NUM official Ken Tonks. “One of the problems was that there was nowhere for them to go, and over the years the place had become more and more run down as jobs in coal and manufacturing disappeared.”

Betty Whittock, who is 77 and has lived in the same house since she was four, recalls how the embryonic community group called a public meeting with councillors. “This had been a lovely estate, so friendly and everyone so proud of their home, garden and street. We needed to get that pride back, and we felt a good start would be a community centre. For once a group got together and said they felt the same way about the things that were wrong.”

When a ground-floor flat became vacant in a house in Westwood Road, the council allowed the community group to take it on for a peppercorn rent as a drop-in centre which would hold coffee mornings for the elderly, meetings with councillors, an after-school homework club and arts and crafts sessions for youngsters which could be extended in the school holidays.

A group went out into the streets to clear litter, and fellow-feeling began to appear. “We needed to pull together, because no-one else was interested and all the riff-raff who were getting sent here,” says Betty, who had to opt out of community work for a few years after a stroke, but now leads cake and biscuit decorating sessions with local children.

When the upstairs flat became vacant the council allowed the group to have it on similar terms, and with the help of Coalfield Regeneration money it was kitted out with tables, chairs and computers. Three volunteers started the Dudes and Divas arts and crafts club, adults came in to learn how to use computers and the community got stuck into plans for improvements around the estate. Over the years, some members of the group, like Rheta Davison, have become exceptionally adept at applying for grants. They say backing from Wakefield District Housing has been “100 per cent” with help on community projects, and they have succeeded in attracting £220,000 for a community garden and adventure playground on what was an allotment at one side of the village, plus a playground for younger children and restful park area on old rough ground at the other side. The group has also found funding locally for trips for children, from a day at the coast to theme park outings.

Ken Tonks acts as playground caretaker. “We have no litter, no graffiti, no trouble. I don’t even have to wave my stick. To make the kids respect the area we had to involve them in what we were doing, so they had their say and knew we’d listen. When it came to the design of the playgrounds, they worked with the architects, so what you see is mostly their ideas brought to life. They love it and look after it.”

No-one is claiming that Cutsyke is now Utopia – unemployment, drink and drugs are still there – but everyone agrees the place has greatly improved. “Ten years ago there was quite a high rate of anti-social behaviour here,” says Neighbourhood Policing Inspector David Bugg. “The community group was formed to make a difference and it has. Cutsyke had the same problems as many council estates but there were some individuals who were not prepared to put up with it any longer. Part of the jigsaw has been the formation of neighbourhood policing teams, which mean there is a direct link to us and they can discuss problems with us closely.”

The local bobby on the beat is Jon Asquith, who was born and bred in Castleford and wanted to return to work on his home patch after spells in divisional drugs, robbery and intelligence teams. “I wanted to come back to Cas, to give something back because I care about it, and I know that in the last two years since I’ve been here, things have improved. I go into the community centre, and there might be an 80-year-old and a two-year-old in there. It brings everyone together. It’s still a deprived area with high unemployment, but crime as a whole has come down and anti-social behaviour is much less than it was.

“I’m here to stay, I have a relationship with the children, but I’m not soft. They know that if they muck about again after one warning for bad behaviour, they will be arrested and go through the youth offending system. Older people are reporting fewer incidents than they did.” So committed is this bobby that he even does sponsored runs in aid of the community centre.

Baroness Newlove, the widow of Garry Newlove, who was kicked and beaten to death when he confronted a gang near his home in Warrington in 2007, visited Cutsyke this week in her capacity as the Government-appointed independent champion for active safer communities. She was launching a report, the result of six months’ work around the country, calling for a “people power revolution” to fight against neighbourhood crime. In it she highlighted seven areas in the country where she has observed great examples of community activism that were succeeding in addressing anti-social behaviour and other crimes.

Her work is, she says, her way of ensuring that something positive comes out of the tragedy of her husband’s death. She has come up with a host of recommendations that include council tax rebates or vouchers to spend on local services for people who become active in making their neighbourhood safer. She also calls for a Bling Back scheme, whereby drug dealers’ asset would be sold and ploughed back into communities if they have provided information that helps to bring about a conviction.

“This is a journey for the rest of my life,” says the Baroness. “Things have changed in my own community since Garry’s death, I’m glad to say. Everywhere I have been in the last six months, there are people who’ve become fed up of being blighted by bad behaviour, bad parenting and feral youths. The community here in Cutsyke has achieved so much by coming together, organising activities for children to get involved in and helping them to learn that they must be respectful. The centre means that people, including kids, feel they have a voice and that’s a very powerful thing. I think the things children learn through the centre can be taken home to their parents. I know it is a challenge, but those parents need help.

“There is a lot to do, including alcohol education in schools, but this community has really learned to look after itself by neighbours being good neighbours and making partnerships with police, council, and other bodies. So much can be done by people working together, taking a pragmatic approach and not waiting around for someone else to make changes.”

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