At a packed-out PACT meeting held yesterday at St Dyfrigs Hall, Llanrumney, local councillors Jacqueline Parry and Heather Joyce were unable to give clear updates to the public on the last PACT priorities set in January, which included youth annoyance at Llanrumney library and gullies causing problems in Llanrumney Avenue, Chedder Crescent and Uphill Road.
Councillor Derrick Morgan was stuck in the Children and Young People scrutiny committee meeting at County Hall and Parry left early to go to another meeting. When PACT chair Denise Wong asked why the councillors had no updates since the last meeting, Parry replied: "We have lots of meetings to go to - I think it was going up to 200 a year when I last counted." When asked about the gullies being shut off, PCSO Newman said:
"To talk to the council directly I had to go to an inspector and it did not get addressed for two months."
Speaking to Parry after the meeting, she said the reason for the lack of updates is because some of issues are long-term problems. She said:
"The library and the gullies are ongoing issues. I have met with the housing department about the gullies but we need to meet with the Cardiff Ramblers association so there's no quick-fix to get them closed. I had to go to another meeting last night - that's what we do. We want to help people but also people can knock on our doors and we don't do everything at the PACT meeting. There's a tremendous amount going on behind the scenes."
Crime stats in Llanrumney have decreased in the last year, with cases of anti-social behaviour in east and west beats in the last two months totalling at 44 - a drop from 71 reported in the same time period last year.
The PACT priorites set at yesterday's meeting focused once again on anti-social behaviour and youth annoyance in the area - reported on yourCardiff here. Other issues raised at the meeting included the difficulty in using the 101 service, and the use of capture cars to combat car crime.
The next meeting will be held on 11 May.
