Shock at the Woodlands (From Free Press Series)

Shock at the Woodlands

2:18pm Thursday 29th June 2006 in Pontypool news By Lorna Phelan

A FAMILY who was driven from their council home in the Woodlands, Penygarn, has said they are shocked to see others are still suffering at the hands of yobs.

Wendy and Andrew Palmer, and their six-year-old son Rhys, were moved from their home by police and Torfaen Council for their own safety last summer after suffering two years of harassment and intimidation, culminating in an alleged attack on Mr Palmer.

But Mrs Palmer said she is shocked that, ten months on, no lessons have appeared to be learnt from their experience.

Her comments follow a report in the Free Press earlier this month about a family who were pleading with housing officials to be moved from the area after becoming repeated victims of physical and verbal abuse.

Mrs Palmer said: "It's not good enough, ten months down the line and another family has been pushed to the breaking point.

"I am sad and angry that things haven't changed up there.

"It is a beautiful area with nice houses and very nice people but there is a minority who are spoiling it for the majority," she said.

Mrs Palmer said more needs to be done to combat the problem such as closer links between the council and police.

"There needs to be an on-going visible effort made by them, not just when things kick off.

"This experience took so much out of us as a family and it's deeply hurtful to see other families are going through the same thing," she added.

Sergeant Mike Pheasant, of Pontypool Police said: "There has been a vast reduction in the number of incidents of anti-social behaviour and disorder in the area of the Woodlands as a result of initiatives introduced through close multi-agency working.

"Our dedicated neighbourhood policing team, who are available and accountable to residents, ensure they talk to people in the neighbourhood on a regular, if not daily, basis and are able to identify suitable solutions to any issues that are brought to their attention."

Cllr Gwyneira Clark, executive member for housing and community safety, said there has been a marked improvement in the area.

"We have been targeting the area in two phases.

"The first was to tackle individuals who were causing serious problems.

"This led to evictions and those people being moved out of the area.

"The next is to look at solving the lower levels of anti-social behaviour.

"To do this we have set up a Safer Neighbourhood Group, which is made up of community leaders, the police and the council, whose job is to identify those people who are involved in anti-social behaviour."