Madeley is a beautiful medieval village with its pond being the central feature. Fishermen frequently fish the pond – young children with their parents can be seen pointing at the ducks and Canadian geese and the elderly sit on the many benches soaking in the beauty Madeley Pond has to offer.
Up until recently the Canadian Geese would often be a village nuisance. They would often be seen holding up traffic as they walked from the pond to the Madeley Centre on the hunt for food. They would also leave behind a dirty mess as they walked the streets of the Moss Lane estate. The Canadian Geese became a real nuisance in the village and at one point, there were calls on social media to cull them.
Recently there has been money spent on Madeley Pond, restoring the banks and planting reeds. This has created feeding and nesting areas for the geese. Rarely do you see them wondering off from the pond. Not only have these restored banks created feeding and nesting areas for the geese – they have also attracted other wildlife. Mallard ducks can be seen casually swimming up and down the river Lea – a Heron was spotted in amongst the reeds. And at night-time – if you are lucky you can get to see a river vowel scurrying around on a riverbank.
The last decade teenagers have become a ‘growing nuisance’ in the Madeley. They are often see hanging around grey hound court in gangs. To an outsider and with negative media coverage of teenagers – these gangs can look quite menacing, in their Nike trainers and hoodies.
Like the geese hunting for food, these teenagers are hunting for something to do. The village has seen the youth club disappear, along with the scouts. Madeley White Star FC is a massive positive for Madeley. FA accredited coaches provide training for children from the ages of 5 up until 17, in a “safe, fun, all-inclusive and positive environment.” However, these are time-controlled sessions, and it is outside of these times where teenagers and young adults struggle to find anything to do.
Like the geese, the village needs to spend money on its teenagers to give them something to do – to provide safe-spaces away from a judgemental society – where teenagers can be happy and free to develop into young adults. There have been several isolated incidents over the years and the finger of blame has been pointed towards the teenagers. These isolated incidents have been magnified and commented on via social media. A bin appeared to have been ripped off its post and its contents scattered all over the road – but neatly place against the post so someone could take a picture the following day. A park floor that appeared to have been ‘vandalised’ – again teenagers were blamed with no other evidence but hear say.
Madeley Parish Council and the two sitting Newcastle Borough Councillors have a plan to combat this ‘anti-social’ behaviour – CCTV. CCTV is hoped to prevent issues from becoming a “bigger problem” – Gary White, Newcastle Borough Councillor said. The pandemic has seen a massive reduction in anti-social behaviour and that is without the use of CCTV. As we begin to open up, surely now is the time communities should be concentrating on the causes of anti-social behaviour and solve those – otherwise the issues will grow again to become a bigger problem.
Everyone is entitled to family and private life – as laid out in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. For authorities to interfere with an individual’s Article 8 right to privacy there must be an obvious legal justification and the police and councils must strike a balance of using CCTV against an individual’s right to privacy. The question for Madeley is, are gangs of teenagers looking menacing on the hunt for something to do enough to take away an individual’s right to privacy, as laid out in Article 8 of the European Convention – especially when a lot of commercial premises already have sophisticated CCTV systems installed?
The Data Protection Act 1998 governs the use of CCTV and any data produced or stored by it. Borough and Parish Councillor Gary White in a Stoke-on-Trent Live article says “Footage will be recorded and, if a crime is committed, we will use the footage appropriately” – which is a reasonable statement to make.
But who decides if there has been a crime committed, and who has access to the CCTV data?
Coming down hard on criminals is what people want to see, but what rural communities need to prevent criminal or anti-social behaviour, are activities and spaces for teenagers and young adults to enjoy, Poolfield’s as an amazing outdoor area for teenagers and young adults. These young people can be seen pulling the latest trick on their skateboard on the skate park – competitive banter can be heard from the young adults playing basketball. Go to Lodge Road play park at Penkhull, you can see and hear teenagers having a friendly kick-a-round on the purpose built 5 a-side football enclosure. Visit Lyme Valley and there is an amazing accessible to all path snaking its way around green spaces. Families on bike rides stop at the play park for a gentle rest – teenagers have a kick around on the ample green space.
Surely places like these are needed in our rural communities too, like Madeley, to stop “the issues from becoming a bigger problem?”