Fed-up residents declare war on troublemakers after car rams Walsall house

Walsall Housing Group’s (WHG) operations director said action was being taken to help the alleged victims and that bad behaviour would not be tolerated on the estate off Goscote Lodge Crescent, in Goscote, Walsall.

But fed-up neighbours on the new Primrose Lodge development said the incident – which happened shortly after 9.30pm on August 11 – was the last straw, after putting up with a catalogue of crimes and anti-social behaviour in the vicinity.

Residents are calling on West Midlands Police and the housing developers to tackle the problems after a man drove a car into a house in what is thought to be a domestic-related incident. He then returned days later and damaged a window at another house.

The damaged windows at both properties had to be boarded up.

A resident, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said: “Over the past few months there has been many incidents of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity. Other residents and myself have compiled a list of incidents that have occurred. Unfortunately, most of the incidents are being caused by social housing tenants.

“A man deliberately crashed a vehicle into a house on my road. I believe he was tasered and arrested but he was then let out, so he was able to return and smash a window of another property in the early hours a few days later.

“He also supposedly made threats to drive into another neighbour’s house. The same perpetrator was confronted by a resident from an upstairs window and he admitted to smashing the window but didn’t want to explain why he did it.

“He returned again early that morning and smashed another window. The police turned up for the second incident and conducted a search. I don’t know if he was apprehended or not. Unfortunately, these recent incidents have left me anxious as I’m not sure what might happen next.”

She said other incidents included children shouting verbal abuse at passers-by, noisy off-road bikes, thefts of building materials from private land, fly-tipping, drug dealing, residents playing loud music late at night and tenants arguing in the street. Other recent problems included a ice-cream van operator who was turning up after 8pm playing ‘piercingly loud’ music who was subsequently reported to Walsall Council for breaching his licence.They have written to the joint developers Keepmoat and social housing landlord WHG, the police and Walsall North MP Eddie Hughes to take action to resolve the remaining issues.

“Some of the issues are being dealt with and the ice-cream vendor has not returned. We have also set up a residents’ WhatsApp group so we can keep a log of incidents and communicate with each other. We are worried about reprisals, but after the house got rammed everyone said enough is enough.

“This is not normal behaviour. We want to live in a safe environment where all families feel safe. We are well aware of the past reputation of the community, but the responsible agencies need to do more,” she added.

WHG operations director Fay Shanahan said: “We are aware of an incident which occurred - where a car was driven into one of our customer’s homes. This was an incredibly distressing experience for the family involved, who have now been moved into temporary accommodation while we repair the damage to their home.

“This was an isolated incident and we have not received any previous reports of anti-social behaviour at this address. The perpetrator was not known to us and is not a customer of WHG. We are currently liaising with the family, police and our legal team to see if there is anything we can do to stop this person from coming into the area.

“We want everyone to feel safe and happy in their homes and will not tolerate anti-social behaviour. We would encourage anyone who is having issues in their neighbourhood to let us know so we can tackle this unacceptable behaviour.”