Residents claim council "dump" anti-social tenants in quiet Clyde Valley village

Mar 3 2011 by George Topp, Lanark & Carluke

ANTI-SOCIAL tenants are making life a misery for residents of a small picturesque Clyde Valley village.

This is the claim by residents in Crossford who are now calling on South Lanarkshire Council to stop their village being blighted.

Tenants in the Crossclyde View area of Crossford say that some “valued” neighbours had been forced out.

Over the last couple of years, residents in the sleepy community claim they have had to endure:

Knife crime

Drug abuse

Numerous mid-week afternoon “riots”

Neighbours, including a heavily pregnant woman, have been stuck in their homes after the locks were glued up.

Flat was set on fire

Bottles thrown at residents

Excessive partying and fighting amongst the anti-social tenants

“All of these problems have been caused by council tenants – primarily young ‘homeless’ applicants,” claimed one Crossclyde View resident.

She added: “I live in a street that the locals call ‘the council’s dumping ground for trouble makers’. We have been blighted with antisocial behaviour and many of our valued neighbours are fleeing due to our voices never being heard.

“We have raised the problem time and time again with the council, and have had assurances that this situation will not occur again.

“The instigator of the fire, gluing the locks and fighting, we were told, was not allowed in the area again, I assumed through some kind of court order.

“But this same person has just been given a council house on the block, and another flat below on the block has just been turned into a homeless unit.”

She said that the remaining residents were close knit and had started a residents’ association.

But, she claimed, they had received no support from their council housing office and had been fobbed-off with excuses each time they met.

She added: “We’ve had enough and that’s why we have approached the Advertiser in an attempt to make it safer for our children.”

And a resident in a neighbouring street said locals were concerned that their village was being dragged down by the council’s policy of housing “unsuitable” tenants there.

“This is a small rural village, with no facilities to equal the towns these people are used to.

“There are no fast food places, shops, pubs, cinemas or leisure facilities.

“And if they don’t have a car then public transport is sparse.

“Crossford is a quiet place, or rather was, until the council started moving in tenants who are totally unsuited to life in a rural area.”

He added: “I feel sorry for the decent people living there whose lives are now a misery, and of course we have concerns that these problems will affect other areas of Crossford.”

A police spokesman confirmed that there had been a number of problems in the area, problems which had arisen from “various council tenants and their guests.”

He added: “We have taken what action we can, but the council’s housing policy is a matter for them.”

A spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council said: “The council is aware of the concerns of some residents living in Crossford and a meeting has been arranged for the area services manager to meet with representatives from the newly formed residents’ association.

“The council has previously taken action against individuals living in the Crossclyde View area following complaints of antisocial behaviour and will not hesitate in tackling any further incidences.

This week local councillor David Shearer said officials hadn’t alerted him to any problems, but he would now investigate the claims.

He told the Advertiser: “The four elected members for this area did attend a meeting about 18 months ago, arranged by officers, to tackle specific issues raised by residents there.

“I was led to believe the position would then be closely monitored. The understanding given to us was that it would be monitored better in the hope that these problems would not occur again.

“Obviously it has. No constituent or officer has advised me that there is still a problem here, although I have heard there is from other sources.”

Councillor Shearer continued: “I’ve heard nothing about a meeting with the residents over these problems and as far as I am aware neither have my colleagues.

“I will now be looking into this situation as a matter of urgency, and if any constituent approaches me to take this issue up then I am more than happy to attend any such meetings,” he added.