Police Councillors Residents

Cold and dark?
That didn't put off the Arena Park residents from joining the waiting Police Officer and us to discuss local issues yesterday evening.

Not the best photo I've ever taken! - good to see the Police uniform reflective gear works :) A local resident, Neighbourhood Beat Officer Lou Western and Simon Bowkett, my co-Councillor in Pinhoe Ward

Good to meet the new Chair of Arena Park's very active Residents' Association. We had a quick catch-up on the campaign to get lighting installed for the estate's new MUGA (that's Multi-User Games Area...). We believe we can achieve it before next Autumn.
Not so good was the childish graffiti scrawls reported by the two keen gardener residents who have successfully obtained compost bins for use by the whole community.
I went to see it.

Facebook features large in young people's lives... the graffiti clearly that of a child old enough to know better.

Arena Park's residents will clean the graffiti off the gate.
I took WPC Western to see it. She and PCSO Ryan Williams know the estates children well. They'll be talking with them.

Also, I'll be sending the photos to the Housing Association, whose Housing Officer works closely with the Residents' Association.

Arena Park is a pull-together estate.
The adults draw the children in to community activities and make them feel they can contribute positively.
That's one of the big reasons the new MUGA was installed this year. A residents Group, including Youth Ambassadors elected by the estates children, worked with the charity Exeter Parks Watch to win a £65,000 grant from the Home Office.

I'm not surprised that every child who left school this year now has a job, but I am delighted. These are tough times with so many young people jobless.
I strongly suspect the graffiti writer will be identified and persuaded to behave better.
I cycled home thinking in admiration how, even as the Government's austerity cuts hit people hard at Arena Park, residents still hold firm to a strong sense of community.