Story: Gareth Coleman
On 10th September a group of Burngreave residents met to discuss problems that had been happening on our streets.
The meeting was very well attended with about 80 residents from Firview Gardens, Kirton, Blayton, Sturton, Cawston, Skipton, Pexton, Gayton, Osgathorpe and Ella Roads, Ellesmere Road North, College Close, De La Salle Drive, Malton Street and Scott Road; along with the three local councillors, Inspector Richard Burgess from South Yorkshire Police and local PCSOs. Three council officers from the Private Sector Housing team and Neighbourhood Management and a representative from Amey the highways contractors also attended.
Residents had met three times before but this was the first time that so many official representatives were present. Brenda McGowan chaired the meeting and did a great job of making sure that everybody got a chance to speak. Many issues were discussed such as littering, noise, overcrowding and how concerned everyone was to keep our neighbourhood a friendly and peaceful corner of Sheffield.
We had asked the council representative to explain about selective licensing and he told us about how the scheme was introduced in Page Hall and how it works. We also heard from the Police about how they are tackling problems in our area. The representative from Amey explained about their contract with the council and how they prioritise areas.
The various official representatives all emphasised that phoning 101 was the way to both get problems attended to and also to raise issues to attract more resources. But we think that all the agencies should be doing more than just reacting to problems one by one.
Several residents spoke about how they had starting talking to their new neighbours and that this was the only way to get problems sorted out. Everyone agreed that racism has no place in Pitsmoor, and that our meetings are open to everyone.
We would like to invite all residents of the streets listed above to bring their ideas for how to make our neighbourhood better to our next meeting.: