Joint statement from Shaw and Crompton Councillors about the anti-social behaviour on the former market site in Shaw Town Centre.

Tuesday evening (2 August), saw a group of young people wreaking havoc on the former market site, where demolition work is being carried out to remove the stalls and create more parking spaces.

This was not the first time it had happened.  On Monday evening (1 August) they had wrecked the site by pulling down the fencing.  So, it was agreed that a security guard would be deployed to the site the following evening, to monitor the situation.

Last night (2 August), he was assaulted by these young people, who were throwing objects at him, one of which was a broom that hit him on the shoulder.  Not only that but they were pulling the fencing down and riding their bikes over them.  Somebody said they looked like a “pack of wolves”.

Councillor Rod Blyth, who was going home at 8:45pm, saw a police officer talking to a group of young people.  However, the youths were not dispersed and were still congregating on Kershaw Street and Westway when the police officer left.

Then about 9:00pm the situation escalated and Councillor Rod Blyth called the police again and called his colleagues, two of whom were available to assist.  Councillors Dave Murphy and Diane Williamson attended at 9:30pm where they were greeted with a group of young people being dragged back to a police car, where one young person had to be put inside the car.

The police who attended the scene tried to explain to the young people that they would be complicit in any crime that was committed, if they did not do one of three things.  Ring the police; tell the others to stop what they were doing; or walk away.  Needless to say the young people did not take on board this message, despite being reminded of a similar situation that had happened in Ashton last week, which had sadly resulted in a death.

The young people said that they were protesting about the demolition of the market, because it was their chill space.  However, because of a history of anti-social behaviour, not just by these young people on the market, the site needs to be cleared so that those living in Shaw Town Centre are not frightened to go out at night.

It took a couple of hours for all of this to calm down, with the Councillors calling First Response (the Council’s Emergency Team) to ask for assistance, but because the security guard was not employed by the council, all they could do was carry out a welfare check.

All six Shaw and Crompton Councillors have requested a co-ordinated approach to this, so that we can stop these young people from acting so atrociously and ensure the safety of the residents and the security guard on site.  This has been happening for years, but each year the young people’s behaviour has become more anti-social.

The police, PCSOs, the Council and the Detached Youth Team will be out over the next two nights patrolling the area and a Dispersal Order has been drawn up which covers the area between Rochdale Road, Crompton Way, Market Street and Greenfield Lane.

We would urge anyone who sees anything happening around the market site, please contact the police by phoning 101.  Any intelligence about any anti-social behaviour would be welcomed.

In addition to this, Councillor Diane Williamson, as Chair of the District Executive, has written to the Leader of the Council asking for reassurances that despite the delay in the demolition, that all works will be completed in time for 22 August, as well as raising concerns about what happened on 2 August.

Local Councillors believe in zero-tolerance when dealing with these issues and a meeting with a number of partners will be taking place on Friday to review the measures that have been put in place.