The ward councillors for Redhill West have launched an appeal for greater attention to be paid to the Cromwell Road area by relevant bodies including the local Council, in a letter to the Surrey Mirror.
The letter comes three weeks after a drug related murder in the area, and concerns from local residents that problems in the area have not received the attention they required. The Surrey Mirror also carried a letter last week from an anonymous 16 year resident, highlighting the range of problems, large and small, faced by the residents.
The text of the letter is reproduced below, signed by Cllrs Natalie Bramhall and Julian Ellacott (Cllr David Pay is also a ward councillor, but as the Mayor this year is unable to comment on political issues). The councillors have also been in contact with the Police and other bodies in recent weeks and will continue to represent the local residents’ concerns as forcefully as possible.
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are writing in response to the letter in last week’s Mirror from a 16 year old resident of the Cromwell Estate, and also more generally to express our support for the residents of the estate after recent events.
The writer of the letter very clearly lays bare the realities of living on the estate, with problems ranging from noisy neighbours through to the recent murder. Whilst we might all expect to have to put up with minor problems in our neighbourhoods from time to time, residents should not have to put up with persistent, serious problems and these need to be stamped out.
Solutions to these problems are not straightforward but this is no excuse – much good work has been put in to solve local problems but too often in the past the really serious problems have been put in the “too difficult” box. It is time now for the Council, Police, Raven and other bodies to pay greater attention to the problems and work harder than ever with residents and TRACE (the residents’ association) to improve the situation.
Your young correspondent asked for his or her concerns to be taken seriously, and I can assure you that they will be. We will step up our efforts yet further as local councillors and would ask through your pages that any resident with concerns, especially the writer of the letter, gets in touch with us to help bring changes about. We can be written to at the Town Hall or emailed at cllr.mrsbramhall@reigate-banstead.gov.uk and cllr.ellacott@reigate-banstead.gov.uk.
Yours faithfully,
Cllr Natalie Bramhall
Cllr Julian Ellacott
Redhill West Ward
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
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Is this another case of the Raven Housing Trust adopting a hands-off approach? I’d like to know to whom this body is answerable.
Andrew, I don’t think Raven can be accused of being hands off any more than any other body in this case – there is a mix of Raven and private housing on the site so many parties are involved, and have to work together to improve things from now on. In terms of accountability, the Council has three representatives on Raven’s Board, on top of which there are tenant representatives and independent members. We also now have an offer of more localised meetings between Raven and Redhill councillors, which will hopefully strengthen links at the more local level.