A Lee resident has launched a petition to get CCTV installed in Manor House Gardens, after a series of ugly incidents and anti-social behaviour there.
Ali Billenness said she had acted after the mugging of two girls and an attempted break-in in Taunton Road. In addition, vandals have torn down the netting in the basketball court,
“I have noticed a real change in the park in recent months. Fewer children are coming to the park, no one is playing football and more, young children no longer scoot around the MUGA and friends with dogs have reported being intimidated and harassed. It is really saddening to see and I think the CCTV would help,” said Ali.
You can find the petition here.
Ali added: “It has really been escalating in recent months and sadly getting more serious. It would be so sad if we get the wonderful public art installations and then they are vandalised. My children (12 and 14) don’t even want to go into the park now and most of their friends feel the same way sadly.
“The local police have been called out to the park more than 30 times in the past three months alone. So, there’s an argument that not having any deterrent or evidence-gathering tool is also costing money (just on a different budget).”
The Friends of Manor House Gardens supported the idea of a petition. “CCTV has been agreed in principle by Glendale, Lewisham Council and the police.
“The scoping work has been done. I think costs have escalated due to the need to install a post for the camera which requires a cherry picker to move into position.”
The steady decline in the maintenance of the Gardens which includes litter strewn all over the paths and grass, overflowing litter bins, broken bottles, abandoned and sometimes damaged hire bikes, lack of regular park staff or police officers acts as a magnet for anti social behaviour.
Ironically a scheme was introduced in a large town in the North East where a railway station was plagued by mostly teenagers behaving antisocially. A sound system was installed that emitted a high frequency sound that could only be heard by the young.
An alternative form of aural torture would be to play classical music ; very loudly.
There are many other problems that regularly occur in the Gardens. One is the poor state that the child only garden next to the playground which is supposed to exclude dogs. Many of the dog owners take their animals into this part and they sometimes defacate without the owner bagging up the excrement.
One owner who appeared to possibly be unaware that he was doing anything wrong looked to be Chinese and may well not have been able to read the small dog exclusion signs that are only written in English. Sadly today there was also a fair bit of litter lying about in what I perceive to be a non child friendly childrens’ sanctuary.
Thank you so much for sharing and raising awareness Simon. We have such a fabulous park and I really hope that people will get behind the petition so that we can get the issue raised with Lewisham Council.