Police and fire officers have been visiting people on a Mansfield estate who have been dealing with anti-social behaviour "day in, day out" as authorities try and tackle the problem. Residents on the Oak Tree Lane Estate have previously told Nottinghamshire Live that it is sometimes a "nightmare" living there, with past incidents including firefighters being attacked with golf balls.
Due to the number of incidents, Oak Tree was designated as a priority neighbourhood by Mansfield District Council, with £33,000 of funding recently being announced for the estate. This is being used for plans which include the installation of a CCTV camera on the edge of Oak Tree's heathland, an area previously affected by arson attacks.
Several events are also being held in the area where free locks and anti-theft kits for bicycles are being handed out to residents, with the theft of bicycles emerging as a particular issue on the estate. Outreach work is also taking place with schools and community groups.
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Speaking at a 'day of action' on the Oak Tree Lane Estate today (January 23), Sergeant Neil Priestley said incidents had already started to reduce after the targeted work started in November. Sgt Priestley, who has served in the Mansfield South area for the last five years, said: "We had seen quite a significant rise of anti-social behaviour, particularly off-road biking, the theft of cycles and general noise issues. Although anti-social behaviour is a relatively low level incident, it becomes a bigger problem because residents are living with it day in, day out.
"What we have been doing is working with the community to hear about the problems being faced, identify offenders and carry out a lot of positive work in the area too. We have now started to see a decrease in some incidents but a lot of it is in the summer - we don't tend to get is as much in the winter and so we need to be mindful of that going forward in terms of keeping this positive action going."
The money for the targeted action in Oak Tree came from Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Caroline Henry, who announced an overall pot of £800,000 to support crime prevention schemes between 2022 and 2025. Known as 'Safer4All Funding', £100,000 of it was assigned to every one of Nottinghamshire's local authorities to be used over the three-year time span, equating to £33,300 a year.
The previous 'day of action' in Oak Tree last December saw 18 bike locks being handed out and 17 residents being registered for crime updates. At the start of the most recent event, one resident spoke about the recent problems on the estate.
The resident, who did not want to be named, had lived on the estate for 44 years and said: "Oak Tree was never like this when it was first built. They used to call the Bellamy estate nearby for being bad, but this is now much worse than Bellamy.
"The main thing is kids pinching bikes and I've secured our shed because the kids had new bikes for Christmas. It happened to me when I was young so I know how heart-breaking it is to have a new bike stolen.
"We just need to make sure that this visible policing that we've been having continues a bit more." Andy Abrahams, the Mayor of Mansfield, pledged that work from authorities in the area would continue beyond the targeted period of action ending in March.
He said: "When an estate starts to get a reputation, it feeds into the psyche of all the people on the estate. People on the Oak Tree Estate are fantastic people, but they feel inhibited because of these pockets of very poor behaviour.
"I used to be a teacher and when you used to have one or two people behaving badly in a classroom, you could quickly deal with them and move forward in a positive way - but if it was three of four, that's not as easy and it affects the whole group. Similarly on the Oak Tree Estate, if the area is continuously being talked down then it makes the whole community feel as though they are all causing problems, which is just not true."
PCC Henry added: "It is really important to me that residents can have the trust and confidence to know that they will be listened to and their concerns will be taken seriously. This day of action, where a range of agencies are coming together for a common cause, really shows that we will stand up for local residents by taking action to improve their neighbourhoods."
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