Meeting documents

Purpose of Report

1. To introduce the report of the Carrier Bag Culture Working Group.

Background

2. A working group has been investigating the issue of disaffected young people in the Wheatley Hill, Thornley and Shotton areas of Easington. This has been carried out under the general heading of ‘The Carrier Bag Culture’ which was a perception of young people gathering in groups with plastic bags containing alcohol and drugs.

3. The investigation into this issue has revealed that addressing issues for young people in this area is a very complex issue. Those young people involved in alcohol and drugs are in the minority and there are other groups who perhaps can be overlooked in the provision of facilities.

4. The full report of the working group is attached. This has been carried out in partnership with Easington District Council. Wide-ranging evidence has been taken including, most importantly, discussions with young people facilitated by Investors in Children. The principle of the working group has been not to make assumptions but to listen carefully to young people in coming to suggestions about improvements.

5. The report attached was considered by the working group on the 21st November as the papers for this meeting were being despatched. Any amendments to the report will be mentioned at the Sub-Committee meeting.

Recommendations

6. The Sub-Committee is asked to consider the report and the recommendations. The distribution of the report to the many agencies who have an interest in this issue needs to be carefully considered. It is important that the lessons learned in this project are passed on to other agencies to assist in ‘joining up’ initiatives in this area.

Contact: Ian Mackenzie Tel: 0191 383 3506

INTRODUCTION

1. A Working Group was set up by the Scrutiny Sub-Committee for Promoting Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities to consider the issue of disaffected young people in the Easington District area. The title of the project, ‘The Carrier Bag Culture’ was originally coined by Councillor Morris Nicholls, the Chairman of the Sub-Committee. This broadly described a feature in some local communities of young people congregating in secluded areas with carrier bags of alcohol and drugs.

2. The Working Group involved representation from Easington District Council. Officers from Easington District Council also participated in this project enthusiastically in a partnership approach.

3. The precise terms of reference of the project took some time to finalise. The topic covered the perception from local communities but the major issue was seeking to address the position of the young people involved.

4. The need to approach this project with an open mind and no pre-conceptions was stressed.

5. Liam Cairns from Investing in Children in conjunction with the Chairman of the Working Group were commissioned to identify appropriate young people with whom in due course a dialogue could be secured. The aim was to seek to fully understand the views and aspirations of the young people.

6. In the meantime, the Working Group sought to gather relevant information about this issue, initiatives currently in operation and the stakeholders who are involved. In this process, information was to be drawn from the Crime and Disorder Audit, the Youth Strategy, information from the Community Support Unit, other relevant bodies and local people.

7. To emphasise the community nature of this exercise the Working Group meetings were held at local venues - the Wheatley Hill Heritage Centre, the Shotton Community Centre, Thornley Community Centre and the Wheatley Hill Community Centre.

Initial Position Statement

8. The Working Group received a position statement from Peter Brookes, Head of the Community Support Unit at Durham County Council and Steve Arkley, Head of Community Regeneration, Easington District Council which explained the broad concern about groups of young people, particularly within communities in the west part of Easington district. Despite a number of initiatives within the district, there appeared to be an increase in the number of young people who appear to be excluded from community activities. There is also an increase in incidents of young people involved in anti-social behaviour in certain areas of the district. The perception from adults is that young people congregated in groups with plastic bags containing drugs and alcohol. This had attracted complaints from local people.

9. The Working Group also received a presentation from Liam Cairns, Project Manager, Investing in Children. Liam explained that Investing in Children was a multi-agency approach involving the County Council, Health Authorities and District Councils. The basic premise of Investing in Children is that adults do not always know best. Accordingly, there was a need to listen seriously to young people.

10. In Liam’s view, if recommendations from the Working Group were to make a difference, it was important that:-

11. At the first meeting, therefore, it was agreed that:-

Evidence from the Youth Offending Team

12. Terry Sharkey, Youth Offending Team Manager, gave evidence to the Working Group about the initiatives undertaken by the Youth Offending Team within the Easington District area.

13. Terry indicated that he had been involved with the Youth Offending Team since January 2001. He explained that the Youth Offending Service was a partnership between Durham County Council, Durham Constabulary, County Durham and Tees Valley Health Authority and the Probation Service. The main purpose of the service was to prevent offending by children and young people.

14. The service had three geographically based teams - the East, North and South; and two county-wide teams - the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme and the Restorative Justice Team.

15. Statistical information produced for the period 1st April 2000 to the 31st March 2001 indicated that, as far as the Youth Offending Team was concerned, there was a general trend of reduction in relevant offences and pre-court decisions. Nevertheless, in some wards within Easington, including the wards under consideration by this Working Group, there was a significant increase in recorded offending.

16. Terry gave some further information about some relevant initiatives which were in operation. He mentioned, in particular, Positive Futures which aims to reduce youth offending, drug misuse and increase regular participation in sport and physical activity. This was targeted at 10 to16 year olds who were deemed to be ‘at risk’ or are already involved with crime or drugs. This programme was available across the County and had recently been introduced locally at Wellfield School to cater for the Wingate, Wheatley Hill and Shotton Colliery areas.

17. A further initiative was termed ‘Splash’. This provides young people with constructive use of leisure time during the major school holidays.

18. Terry also mentioned the Youth Inclusion Programmes which were currently not available in the areas under consideration. The aim of these programmes was to ensure that the most at risk young people are included in mainstream activities by offering support to help them overcome a variety of social problems. The key targets for these programmes were to:-

19. Other initiatives mentioned were the On-Track Programme and the Co-ordination of Social Inclusion Programmes.

20. One issue for the Working Group might be whether the Youth Inclusion Programme would be suitable in this area. Also, there appears to be schemes for those involved in crime or drugs but not specific schemes for other local young people.

21. Terry concluded by indicating that there were well-developed multi-agency arrangements in operation in the Easington area particularly under the aegis of the Community Safety Partnership. He indicated that the Youth Offending Service would be pleased to support any initiatives which result from this project.


Input from the Police

21. Acting Superintendent Carole Thompson from Peterlee Divisional Police Office attended the Working Group to give evidence on behalf of the Constabulary. She had worked in the Peterlee area since February 2001.

22. Carole produced a summary of incidents reported to the police within the Easington area concerning youths causing annoyance. The general position was that in the Easington district area as a whole, there was an average of 41.6% incidents per 1,000 population. The statistics also showed that in the district as a whole there had been a 36% increase in such reports over the last three years. In the local areas under consideration, it was noted that all these areas were below the district average. However, in the Thornley area, there had been an increase of over 100% over the last three years and over 84% in the Shotton Colliery area. It was pointed out that these statistics represented the number of calls received and did not measure the outcome.

23. Carole outlined the issues raised by Parish Councils recently. This included youths causing annoyance and complaints about off-road motor cycles in the Shotton Colliery area and problems of young people drinking and causing annoyance in certain areas of Thornley and Wheatley Hill. In addition, information was shared about the perceptions of ‘beat’ officers.

24. Dealing specifically with police powers and alcohol, Carole explained that an alcohol free zone had been introduced in Wheatley Hill under bye-law powers. The general outcome was that this issue had been moved further out of the area rather than producing a resolution. Alcohol was perceived to be a more significant problem than drugs in relation to youths causing annoyance.

25. The powers available to the police in relation to alcohol were explained. This included test purchases and also the Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997. Carole explained a difficulty in relation to this legislation which only empowered the pouring away of alcohol where a container had been opened. This was an issue which had been the subject of representations to the Home Office. The Working Group might wish to lend its support to these representations.

26. Carole’s overall impression was that whilst the issue of young people perceived to be causing a nuisance was recognised by the police, the areas under investigation were basically no different than other areas within the District and the County. Carole confirmed that the issue was worse on Friday and Saturday evenings between the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.

27. In response to a question about which of the available initiatives had proved to be the most positive, Carole thought that locally based activities were more beneficial to the young people, and, in particular, she mentioned an initiative involving a disco which had been popular. She did recognise that sometimes action by the police and other agencies simply moved the issue to another area.

Presentation From Steve Arkley, Head Of Community Regeneration, And Paul Shadforth, Youth Strategy Officer, Easington District Council

28. Steve Arkley and Paul Shadforth attended a session of the Working Group held at Shotton Community Centre. They provided information from the District of Easington Crime and Disorder Audit and supporting documentation. In particular, they drew attention to two recent surveys, one relating to residents and one to young people.

29. The findings of this survey relevant to this investigation were:-

30. Taken from this survey, the young people’s perceptions of problems in their local area were:-


31. Young people suggest the main priorities in tackling these issues are:-

32. Some common priority issues for both residents and young people arise from this research:-
Crime Trends 1998/2001

33. Steve Arkley gave an overview of crime trends within the District. In summary:-

Recent Local Initiatives

34. Steve gave an explanation about a number of recent local initiatives which had been introduced to try to address problems related to young people within the Easington District area. In particular, he drew attention to the following:-

Terms of Reference

35. The terms of reference finally agreed by the Working Group were:-

Discussion with Representatives of Thornley and Wheatley Hill Partnerships

36. One Working Group evening session was held at Thornley Community Centre to provide an opportunity for representatives of the Thornley and Wheatley Hill Partnerships to discuss their views about this local issue. Liam Cairns was able to attend this meeting to give some indications of progress with the dialogue with some young people in Wheatley Hill.

37. The views from the representatives of both partnerships were very positive in terms of concern to understand and address the issues raised by local young people. The consensus appeared to be that the best prospect for success with initiatives with local young people would be to introduce schemes or proposals which were:-

The Views Of Some Young People From Wheatley Hill

38. Thanks to the assistance of staff from Investing in Children, a meeting was organised between Councillor Nicholls, Chairman of the Working Group, Councillor Atkinson from Easington District Council and five young people from Wheatley Hill.

39. This meeting followed some intensive work carried out with hard to reach groups in the Wheatley Hill area. Having gained the confidence of the young people, they were prepared to enter into a dialogue about some of the issues which arose from the project.

40. To start with, the young people were a little tentative but over time during the discussion they gained in confidence. They had prepared a summary of their views and aspirations. This is set out below:-
Issues Raised by Young People Living in Wheatley Hill

41. In essence, the young people were not asking for significant facilities. They indicated that they congregate in groups because there was little for them to do in the village. They were then moved from location to location because of opposition from local residents. They, themselves, did perceive a small group of young people who were using drugs and were seen to be a particular problem in the local area. Drugs were thought to be an increasing problem in the local area although alcohol was not a particular issue amongst the young people. They were keen to point out that they did not wish to be “tarred with the same brush” as the young people who used drugs.


42. Their main request was for somewhere to meet, play pool, have coffee and play music in the evenings. Their view was that currently they were not welcome at the local community centre. It was recognised that this was a product of previous difficulties at the community centre. This generation of young people, however, appeared to be penalised by the actions of their predecessors. They expressed enthusiasm in getting involved in discussions with those in authority to see whether facilities could be restored in conjunction with them.

43. The Chairman offered to seek to involve representatives from this Group in a meeting with the centre manager at Wheatley Hill Community Centre and also offered to facilitate involvement in partnership meetings. This would provide an opportunity for the young people to understand the issues and, hopefully, seek to influence outcomes.

44. The young people also raised the issue of improved transport because of the difficulties of travelling conveniently to destinations, often only short distances outside the village.

45. The Chairman agreed that he and Councillor Atkinson would meet again with this group of young people on the 18th November at Wheatley Hill Community Centre to discuss progress.

46. It was seen to be important to demonstrate to the young people that their involvement in this process was a positive step and, if possible, the delivery of some tangible improvement within a relatively short period of time was very important. Nevertheless, the process might be seen to be the start of restoring a dialogue with some hard to reach young people in this area. It was important, therefore, that this process is ongoing to seek to ensure sustainable progress.

47. In summary, the young people thought that:-

48. It was agreed that efforts will be made to involve young people in local meetings which were seeking to make improvements in facilities and services. Councillor Nicholls would seek to involve some young people in the Community Centre Partnership and other local partnerships and meetings. In particular, a meeting would take place with the manager of the Wheatley Hill Community Centre to see what facilities might be made available. Also, the young people would be invited back to a meeting to assess progress.


Community Appraisals March 2002 - Main Relevant Issues

49. The Working Group was assisted by the detailed community appraisals which had recently been carried out for each ward in Easington District. There was much relevant information in the appraisals which provided assistance to the Working Group in analysing the complex issues which arose and seeking to recommend improvements. The relevant sections are set out below.

Wheatley Hill Ward

Youth Provision


Thornley Ward

Youth provision.

Shotton Ward

Youth provision

50. A specific meeting with young people was arranged to discuss transport improvements. The outcome of the meeting was a greater understanding amongst the young people about the scheme introduced as a result of Investing in Children for discounted travel for young people between 14 and 16. It was hoped that this would result in more young people taking advantage of this scheme. In addition, travel logs were provided to the young people so that they could provide information about the reliability of the current bus service. The transport section of the County Council agreed to explore the possibility of improving links to Blackhall and around the local villages.

SUMMARY

51. Issues Identified by the Working Group

The description of the Carrier Bag Culture had its origins in concern about small groups of young people perceived to be involved with drugs and alcohol and excluded from local society. The investigation by this Working Group to date has identified a variety of groups of young people. The groups, with which the Working Group has been able to have a dialogue, have not necessarily displayed the characteristics of the Carrier Bag Culture as originally perceived. Indeed, the young people who spoke to the Working Group themselves make the point quite strongly that one of their concerns is that young people are all ‘tarred with the same brush’. Many groups of young people who are perceived to be a ‘problem’ are not involved in crime, drugs or alcohol.

52. It is noticeable that there are schemes for those identified as involved in crime and drugs but perhaps those groups of young people who are not identified in this category can be overlooked. Preventative action should be a key aim of any strategies to divert young people away from criminal or anti-social behaviour. Looking at these groups, therefore, is an important element in any potential improvement in this area.

Findings

53. In considering the work of the group, a number of broad issues had become clear:-

RECOMMENDATIONS

54. Bearing in mind the complexity of the issues which have arisen in this project, the Working Group recognised that there will always be limitations in introducing improvements or new initiatives. Nevertheless, there was a strong feeling that opportunities for some young people were being overlooked and that the community needed to do more to try to engage youngsters both in their interests and that of the wider community.

55. In the light of its findings, the Working Group recommends that:-