SALFORDNOW AT THE HEART OF ALL THINGS SALFORD
Wednesday 12 December 2018
Salford debt charities warn of illegal borrowing risks for Stop Loan Sharks Week Read more on page 2
Grieving mum sends vigil message
Michelle Pearson, mother of the four Walkden arson victims, sent an emotional message to residents commemorating her ‘little angels’ Read more on page 3
SAFETY FIRST
No confidence vote for May
Over the past year, there have been 111 reported burglaries in Eccles alone
By Pien Meulensteen
A MONTON crime victim is appealing for alleygates to be installed urgently after a spate of shed thefts. Tom Davis, of Crawford Street in Monton, had his bike stolen on Monday after the lock was cut from his shed. His property wasn’t the only one to be targeted. Mr Davis said: “We let the neighbours know so that they could be vigilant but it turned out their bikes were stolen from the shed as well.” The sheds were burgled via the public alleyway at the back of his property. Now, Mr Davis is asking Salford Council to ensure all the alleyways in Monton can be gated. He continued: “The biggest solution would be to put gates on the alley-
ways. The alleyways are open to the public so anyone can come through here but having gates for residents would be a big help.” ‘Alley-gating’ is a simple way of restricting access to the rear of a property by using lockable gates at the end of an alley. It makes it harder for burglars to break in to homes and it also creates a safe communal area for residents. According to The British Crime Survey, more htan half of all house burglaries, the intruder entered through the rear of the property. In some cases, areas with a high proportion of terraced houses, up to 75 per cent of homes targeted by burglars were entered from the rear. Mr Davis said: “For something so small it seems such a shame that it can’t be done because of a lack of money.” Over the past year, there have been
111 reported burglaries in Eccles alone. Mr Davis said: “I generally feel safe but when you hear the statistics it obviously plays on your mind. “You’d love to be able to not have to lock your bike up or lock your shed or have to put padlocks everywhere so whenever anything like this happens it’s another padlock on a gate.” So far Salford Council has carried out over 400 alley gating schemes across the city covering more than 9,000 properties. However, according to Mr Davis a ‘lack of funding’ has put a halt in the Salford council’s plans to add more gates to alleyways. He said, “for something so small it seems such a shame that it can’t be done because of a lack of money.” We reached out to Salford Council about the lack of funding but failed to receive a reply. Liz Harris, Chair of Monton Village Community Association, works
closely with concerned residents on how to keep their property safe and said this isn’t the first time someone has requested gated alleyways: “nobody has a big budget, there isn’t enough money to do everything that everyone wants,” she said. “As an association, we’ve helped campaign, and we’ve worked with our councillors and a couple of times we’ve managed to get gated alleyways because we’ve spoken to the right people, perhaps just at the right time or perhaps loudly enough that they decided it was worth doing.” Greater Manchester Police have issued advice on keeping properties secure, saying the use of ‘window shock alarms’ and ‘door chimes’ can deter burglars from properties. GMP explain, “a thief would much rather come and go unnoticed and these types of sneak in burglaries account for around a third of all burglaries.”
Salford residents react to the vote of no confidence Read more on page 3
Twelve years old and struggling with alcohol misuse
Now at 28 Maleeka reveals her story Read more on page 7
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