Youth centre will turn Henley into 'Croxteth-on-Thames'

By Will Davies

Furious residents in Greys Road have rejected plans for the proposed state-of-the-art youth centre at Makins Recreation Ground, warning it will turn the area into ‘Croxteth-on-Thames’.

Prompted by what they say is the town council’s poor upkeep of the Makins site, including ‘drug-related graffiti’ left on the skate park, dozens of residents in Greys Road have expressed interest in signing a petition in a bid to stop the £2.5 million centre being developed.

"Like the scouts, the residents of Greys Road have totally rejected plans for a proposed youth centre going in at Makins," raged resident Will Hamilton. "Why can’t it stay where it is and have that site redeveloped - is this not good scout common sense?"

Residents fear that if built, the centre will exacerbate the present situation, which has seen a constant barrage of graffiti daubed on play equipment, including the act of ‘tagging’ - spraying a particular signature logo which police have told residents is a calling card for drug users to gather.
They say they would like to live in Henley-on-Thames, ‘not Croxteth-on-Thames’ - referring to the district of north Liverpool notorious for bitter gang rivalries and casual violence.

Mr. Hamilton, who is spearheading the campaign to halt the development, added: "We are still awaiting the green paint from the council to mask the graffiti on the YPod - we have been waiting six months - it should never have been put there. And the graffiti on the ramps is still awaiting to be cleaned off - as you know this is drug related. My neighbours are livid."

Another resident, Kirsty McMillan, recently received an email from the town council stating it is ‘currently running a trial to allow some artwork to remain on part of the equipment’ and that it will be ‘closely monitored by parks service staff’.

Reacting to this, Mr. Hamilton said: "If this is the case, they are effectively sponsoring such offensive behaviour. Just look at what has happened at the Reading skateboard site."

He added: "Since running this trial a huge amount of graffiti has come back. Whatever they put there will be covered in graffiti before long.
"If it was on the town hall it would be cleaned off straight away. The council only put the skate park in at Makins to stop kids smoking and drinking in the market place."

Mrs. McMillan says she is concerned the new development could damage the value of her home. She said: "It will impact on the saleability of my home, its value and our standard of living.
"My 100-year-old grandmother recently looked out of the window here to see a hideously obscene word sprayed in large letters on the skate park.

"We have been duped by the council into thinking they are interested in everybody’s views. They have consulted the youth groups and the schools but not the residents - nothing we have requested has been delivered on.
"Before we know it, there will be JCBs outside, clogging up the traffic. Where is our representation? We already have a youth centre in the town - why not redevelop that?"

The team behind the development, Thamesfield, says although it would like to remain on the existing youth centre site in Deanfield Avenue, it needs funds from its sale to create what its senior trustee, Oliver Makower, calls a solution to the ‘massive gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in Henley’.
"We can’t allow this behaviour to continue, that is why the new centre must be built, to help those young people left behind with practically nowt, disregarded by a culture of sending people to university," he said.

"If we were to redevelop the current site it would cost between £300,000 and £400,000, and even then would be second rate as the space is too limited for what we want. By moving to Makins we can fulfill government objectives and attract funds from Sport England, the Arts Council and Learning and Skills Council.
"We will have an abseiling tower, a climbing wall, music studio with resident rap artist, and a workshop to teach high-level artisan skills such as plumbing, electrical work, brick-laying and even cooking.

"We want to put an end to the nuisance behaviour and graffiti. It will be tough, but with a lot of hard work and a live-in caretaker at the centre, it can happen."