The district council’s £250,000 investment in its Pride scheme has been described by a councillor as the authority “papering over the cracks” when it comes to curbing antisocial behaviour and problem buildings.
At the South Holland District Council meeting on Wednesday, July 31, Long Sutton councillor Andrew Tennant suggested such large investments could be put into targeting well known “grot spots” instead, suggesting the council purchase buildings.
“In Long Sutton we’ve had a new development open on a site that was one of our “grot spots” he said, referring to a list made by the council.
“Fortunately one area in Long Sutton has been redeveloped and the wraps and scaffolding have just come off.
“I think it’s worth noting what an improvement that makes to a town centre – it’s not just one building, you’re taking away all the magnets for antisocial behaviour, graffiti, etc, and it really has made a dramatic improvement.”
Coun Tennant said the council’s “softly softly” approach “isn’t working” and it’s time they got more “gung-ho”.
He said: “We’re prepared to spend a quarter of a million pounds on a Pride campaign which is papering over the cracks by cleaning graffiti.
“Could we say next year we’re taking the £250,000 and buying one of these properties and giving it to one of our building companies to develop into town apartments to sell?”
Coun Roger Gambba-Jones replied: “I don’t think £250,000 would even touch some of these buildings.”
He added that it would be an unfair distribution of resources. “Taking that sort of figure and targeting a specific area would mean the rest of the district would have to go without, which is always the difficult thing.
“I do sympathise with that approach but I don’t think that we could promise anything of that nature and ultimately the buildings belong to somebody else and it’s their role to make use of their resource and turn it back into something for that community.”
He said the council “lives in hope” that these areas will be turned around.
Also at the meeting, Crowland and Deeping St Nicholas Coun Bryan Alcock complained about the likes of the Bull and Monkie pub in Spalding and mess at the area around the water taxi dock.
Coun Gambba-Jones said the bridge area is on the daily cleaning round but if it needs a “deep clean” the council will get to it.
He added enforcing work at the privately-owned Bull and Monkie site as “torturous”, adding, “if all else fails, [we can do] the work ourself and attempt to get the money back from them but if it’s like last time we were unable to recover all of those costs.”
