Call for end to anti-social issue

Call for end to anti-social issue

7 June 2017

A PETITION has been started calling for an end to anti-social behaviour in the Flying Horse and Model Farm areas of Downpatrick.

Set up by a local resident on the Sign and Share website, it has attracted 257 supporters since it was set up on Monday.

The petition statement calls for an “end to negative anti-social behaviour in our home town”.

Describing the anti-social behaviour of the last few months of “severe”, the resident said youths had been endangering the lives of drivers and pedestrians alike.

“They have set bins, traffic lights and fields on fire, tormented residents and they regularly throw bricks at cars,” she said. “They are between the ages of 13, 14, 15 to 20 and older. It is an absolute disgrace that in this day and age we are letting this behaviour continue on our streets.”

The petition statement went on to say: “We as a community need to come together and make changes to make our home a decent happy place to raise our children. Let’s make changes today, from now. Together. We can end this risk to our friends and family.”

One resident commenting on the website said the majority of young people involved were not from the estates but were being ped off in cars by parents. 

Another said “drunken louts” had come running into her house after wrecking plants and bushes in her front garden.

The petition has been addressed for the attention of the PSNI and local MP Margaret Ritchie.

Last month the Flying Horse and Model Farm areas of the Killough Road were under scrutiny for widespread anti-social behaviour and criminal activity. At the beginning of May the Fire Service also attended a number of deliberately lit gorse fires in the area. It was part of a widespread trend across Northern Ireland but the Fire Service’s Downpatrick District was the busiest station.

Incidents of anti-social behaviour have continued to be reported in the Killough Road area but these have not been on the same scale as last month’s trouble.

During hot weather on Friday, May 26, the Fire Service attended a fire on the Brannish Road in the Flying Horse area. However, the fire, which started in a skip, is not being considered as deliberate on this occasion.

A fire appliance was called, however, to tackle a deliberately lit gorse fire on the Leitrim Road in Castlewellan. The fire was put out shortly after 12.30am the following morning.