Plea from Derby business owners: ‘Please protect our city centre urgently’

02/12/2023

Urgent pleas for safety improvements to Derby city centre [1] have been made with fears increasing that not enough action is being taken to tackle high levels of anti-social behaviour. Businesses say they are reaching “the end of their tolerance” due to numerous problems on city streets. But Derby City Council has warned [2] there are “no quick and easy solutions” in tackling the problems .

The authority has appealed to the public for time to make the changes required. An open letter, sent to the Derby Telegraph’s letters page, from “city centre businesses” calls for the area to be made safer for workers and the thousands of people who visit each day. In addition, a Derby city councillor has also expressed his concerns regarding safety on city centre streets and claims not enough enforcement action is being taken to those in the wrong.

The concerns come just a week after it was reported that a Derby City Council street cleaner was attacked while doing his job [3] at St Peter’s Street. The man is said to have suffered serious injuries. The open letter states: “We as a community of small and established businesses in the St Peter’s Street area are getting to the end of our tolerance due to the homelessness, violence, vandalism, drug gangs and solicitation.”

It added there were several issues that needed dealing with – such as people witnessing “a mass of human waste, including vomit” on the streets and some places “smelling of urine”. The letter said businesses are frequently having to apologise to customers when and where anti-social behaviour is happening in front of their eyes. Derby City Council says it continues to take enforcement action against those who breach public space protection orders [4], continues to fund safety schemes and a new “City Centre Summit” task force has been established to help meet the needs of people living and working in the city centre and its visitors.

The concerns made in the open letter have been echoed by Conservative councillor Jamie Mulhall in recent weeks. The Oakwood councillor [5] says action is urgently needed to better tackle anti-social behaviour – and described some parts of the city centre as a “no-go zone”. He feels existing powers to tackle problems of bad behaviour are not being acted upon properly.

Cllr Mulhall said in a statement: “It is becoming abundantly clear that the (city centre) Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) brought in under the previous Conservative administration in 2022 is not being implemented. You only need to walk down St Peters Street to see all these behaviours not only being committed daily, but their frequency dramatically increasing. Derby City Centre is quickly becoming a no-go zone.

“This Labour administration is good at talking, it’s all they seem to do. We have all had enough of talking we demand action. We are therefore seeking the immediate enforcement of the existing PSPO.

We also would insist that additional restrictions are added and duly enforced to include the prohibiting of E-Bikes and E-scooters in all pedestrianised areas.” Note for app users – click on the link below to see the letter which appeared in the Derby Telegraph on Wednesday, November 29.

Open letter from Derby business owners – from Derby Telegraph on Wednesday, November 29

This is an open letter to the mayor, councillors and anyone else involved in the future of Derby city centre. We as a community of small and established businesses in the St Peter’s Street area are getting to the end of our tolerance due to the homelessness, violence, vandalism, drug gangs and solicitation that occurs in our city.

On any given day, on the short walk from my car to my place of work, I will witness a mass of human waste including vomit around the areas where the homeless community reside for the night. While the street cleaners do a good job getting their mess cleaned up, you have to ask yourself are they happy scraping human waste off the floor and washing away vomit? Not to mention the doorways of some businesses, which reek of urine.

The street cleaners are also having to poke around the bushes and shrubs in the church looking for used needles. It does make me wonder if they’re trained to do such a dangerous job and are happy about it. I’m sure you’re aware of the poor man who was assaulted and stabbed in the church grounds for doing his job?

Whether words were exchanged or not his life will always be affected by that day. I find myself feeling watched and I feel imitated when I’m walking past these people. Why are we feeling like their next target because we refuse to look at them when they’re begging for change, food or a cigarette?

I understand some measures are being put in place to stop the cluster of these people such as the old community centre being boarded up, but what about the shops that have open doorways such as the optician’s? How do you think they feel when they have customers waiting to be seen and they’ve got a man urinating in the corner, taking drugs or slumped up against the door. As a community we’re also facing the constant bickering, fights and show of handmade and improvised weapons.

These people have no shame and will shout, curse and threaten no matter how busy is the city centre. It’s disgusting we’re having to witness this and apologise to our customers on their behalf when we shouldn’t have to. The same goes for the drug pushers; they’re always out in packs, with their unleashed gnarly dogs, walking around, causing trouble and getting into fights with each other.

On any given day I can identify these people, I know their habits and hangout areas. I’ve given police descriptions and made them aware of what they carry to make themselves visible to drug users. To give the police credit, I did notice a PCSO rummaging through a bag and he did find drugs.

My hunch was correct so why are these people getting away with it? We, the people of Derby city centre, are asking for you to address and fix these problems. We understand changes are not going to happen overnight but our city is failing us.

Derby City Council responded to both the open letter and Cllr Mulhall’s statement, saying work was well under way “to rejuvenate and attract more businesses into the city centre.” Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, Cabinet Member for Communities and Streetpride at Derby City Council said: “It’s important that those living and working in Derby feel safe while visiting the city. We are determined to make our city centre as safe as possible and are committed to reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, but we cannot do this alone.

“We need to work in partnership with other agencies and this is what we are doing. While there is no quick and easy solution, we are dealing with the legacy left by the previous administration being in control for five years. “We fully recognise the impact that anti-social behaviour has on our communities, and we don’t need lessons from the people who haven’t tackled the issues that happened on their watch.

It is going to take time to turn things around and we are doing everything we can. “Derby City Council continues to take enforcement action for breach of Public Space Protection Orders, including issuing Fixed Penalty Notices. The Community Safety Team makes full use of enforcement powers available, such as Community Protection Notices and Criminal Behaviour Orders, to deal with individuals causing persistent anti-social behaviour.

“Council teams also work with key partners to ensure a co-ordinated response to issues in the city centre, including joint patrol strategies, improvements to CCTV and environmental improvements. We have continued to fund both the Street Pastor and Taxi Marshall services to help and reassure those working in and visiting the city centre in the evenings. “Since being appointed as Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Safety, I have resurrected the successful multi-agency City Centre Summit to tackle these issues in a more joined-up way.

This will be an integral part of the city centre Task Force pledge to rejuvenate and attract more businesses into the city.”

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References

^ Derby city centre (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^ Derby City Council has warned (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^ street cleaner was attacked while doing his job (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^ public space protection orders (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^ Oakwood councillor (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^ the main Derbyshire Live newsletter here (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)