Community campaign to give Daventry estate a clean

People living on the Southbrook say parts of their estate suffer from problems like litter and fly-tipping and damage to cars.

Now councillors, community leaders and residents are coming together to try to tackle the causes of these problems.

Town councillor Zeshan Hussain said: “The concern that the residents have are things like litter – there is a lot of litter and rubbish being left by some of the garages, we’ve had cars burned out on Borough Hill or the Fish Ponds, cars have had their tyres slashed, and in places youths intimidating other people.

“It is a good estate with nice people, but there are some who don’t have the same engagement with the community.

“Problems are reported, and the litter gets picked up, but it doesn’t get to the cause of the problems.”

Now the people of the Southbrook are looking to the Grange, where a community-led campaign has developed and grown. Initially it was focused on litter, but those leading the clean-up realised tidying up the community was a way of bringing neighbours together and fostering a respect for the wider environment.

Cllr Hussain said: “We are looking to what has been done on the Grange and Drayton. We have started doing community litter picks on the estate, and we’d like to see what’s happened on the Grange happen on the Southbrook.

“Myself, the other town councillors for the estate, Alan Hills and Sharon Moore are leading this at the moment.

“It’s about letting people know who to get in touch with about problems, and getting problems solved.

“The estate has its own community Facebook page now and a lot of issues are reported.

“There are people who have moved on to the estate who don’t have the same respect for their community that others do. We’re hoping that we can get more people to respect their neighbours and the estate as a whole.

“It isn’t something that we can solve overnight. It will take time and we need to involve as many people as possible.”