Youth

The meeting of the Parks Committee went along quickly enough last night. In truth the Parks Manager and his staff do such a good job, that there's not much for the Committee to do, other than rubber stamp his decisions. But at the end the Mayor raised the matter of people misbehaving on Furniss Island. The Island is a little patch of greenery in the middle of town, where office workers like to eat their sandwiches. But this summer it's been taken over by young people. They can be intimidating, but they don't actually pay any attention to me when I walk through. And they can leave a mess of food wrappers and bottles, which is annoying. But where else are they going to go? We have no Youth Clubs in Truro, the Bowling Alley and the Cinema are all that's on offer, and they cost money.

But things came to a head last week. Those that are old enough have been buying beer in the Co-Op and then selling it on. A late night party developed, and sometime after two o' clock, a lad was beaten up and windows smashed. Unfortunately Furniss Island is ringed by old peoples flats and the residents were terrified. So now the Police are increasing patrols and the Parks Committee is being asked to lop branches off trees and remove bushes, so that the CCTV can monitor the place.

All well and good, but we must be careful. Elsewhere in the country they are finding that moving the kids on is causing a big problem. They are gathering on School sites at night, and are out of sight. No one passes by, the Police Patrols can't easily see what they are up to. They become an easy target for drug dealers, and worse, and no one knows what's happening, until it's too late.

The Police in Truro do a good job. I think we can rely on them for some 'light touch' Policing. I hope we can leave the kids on Furniss Island, but clamp down on alcohol and late night antics. But better still, let's build a Youth Club so that Young People have somewhere safe to go and socialise.