Police and fire officers have been visiting people on a Mansfield estate who have been dealing with anti-social behaviour “day in, day out” as authorities try and tackle the problem.
Residents on the Oak Tree Lane Estate have previously told Nottinghamshire Live that it is sometimes a “nightmare” living there, with past incidents including firefighters being attacked with golf balls.
Due to the number of incidents, Oak Tree was designated as a priority neighbourhood by Mansfield District Council, with £33,000 of funding recently being announced for the estate. This is being used for plans which include the installation of a CCTV camera on the edge of Oak Tree’s heathland, an area previously affected by arson attacks. Several events are also being held in the area where free locks and anti-theft kits for bicycles are being handed out to residents, with the theft of bicycles emerging as a particular issue on the estate. Outreach work is also taking place with schools and community groups.
The money for the targeted action in Oak Tree came from Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Caroline Henry, who announced an overall pot of £800,000 to support crime prevention schemes between 2022 and 2025. Known as ‘Safer4All Funding’, £100,000 of it was assigned to every one of Nottinghamshire’s local authorities to be used over the three-year time span, equating to £33,300 a year.
The previous ‘day of action’ in Oak Tree last December saw 18 bike locks being handed out and 17 residents being registered for crime updates. At the start of the most recent event, one resident spoke about the recent problems on the estate. The resident, who did not want to be named, had lived on the estate for 44 years and said: “Oak Tree was never like this when it was first built. They used to call the Bellamy estate nearby for being bad, but this is now much worse than Bellamy.
“The main thing is kids pinching bikes and I’ve secured our shed because the kids had new bikes for Christmas. It happened to me when I was young so I know how heart-breaking it is to have a new bike stolen.
“We just need to make sure that this visible policing that we’ve been having continues a bit more.” Andy Abrahams, the Mayor of Mansfield, pledged that work from authorities in the area would continue beyond the targeted period of action ending in March.