Meeting to discuss problems at estates

Meeting to discuss problems at estates

15 June 2016

A PUBLIC meeting will be held in Downpatrick next Monday night to discuss trouble which has flared at two of the town’s largest housing estates.

Teenagers recently pelted cars with stones and balloons filled with water and also set fire to traffic lights at the Killough Road which borders the Model Farm and Flying Horse estates. Bins were also set alight, while teenagers have been congregating at the Feadanagh Walk area to drink alcohol.

The Flying Horse Ward Community Forum has already asked the PSNI to deploy vehicles fitted with video cameras at both estates in a bid to identify the troublemakers, many of whom local people suspect are not from Downpatrick.

There were similar disturbances in the same area last summer with crowds of young people engaging in anti-social behaviour.

Next Monday night’s public meeting is being held at St Colmcille’s Primary School at 7pm and the chairman of the local community group is urging people to attend.

Éamonn Mac Con Midhe joined members of the group and volunteers from the Downpatrick Community Collective on Monday to night to distribute leaflets to homes in both estates informing residents about the meeting.

He said the trouble appears to coincide with good weather and said residents are fed up with the trouble in an area which has been transformed over recent years.

“Many residents have approached the Forum in the wake of the most recent trouble to express their concern and the impact this is having. Representatives from a number of bodies including the PSNI, Housing Executive, Social Services, Policing and Community Safety Partnership, Newry, Mourne and Down Council and others will be at next week’s meeting and we want as many people from the area to attend,” urged Mr Mac Con Midhe.

Mr Mac Con Midhe said the Forum wants to work alongside the statutory agencies to address the anti-social behaviour issue so local people can live in peace and not have to put up with disorderly youths.

He continued: “There appears to be more people from outside the area coming to the local estates to cause trouble for whatever reason. Young people from Newcastle, Killyleagh, Ardglass and Killough are coming here and we have no reason why.

“We hope as many people as possible attend next week’s meeting to send out a clear message that they do not want this unruly behaviour on their doorstep. The Forum and the Downpatrick  Community Collective has organised a number of schemes in the area for young people so one can turn round and use the excuse of nothing to do as a reason for their behaviour.

“No one has yet been brought to book for the trouble and that needs to start happening. I would appeal to parents to warn their children not to get involved in this type of behaviour which is tarnishing this area. The people of Killough Walk where the young people congregate most are sick of what is happening as are those who live at Feadanagh Walk. They have all had enough.”

Lisa Perry, who has lived in the area for 17 years and volunteers with the Forum, said residents want the trouble to stop in an area which has been transformed through the hard work of many people.