| Thursday 31st August |
294/2006 |
A family from the Leigh have been evicted from their council house, leaving behind them a long history of anti-social behaviour.
The Unsworth family, from Maple Crescent, Westleigh, left the property earlier this month after Wigan County Court gave them 42 days to leave.
The court had heard that Unsworth’s had cause mayhem on the ‘Trees’ estate for a number of years. Residents suffered loud music, parties which often spilled over into the street and resulted in fights breaking out, and motorbikes being ridden along the pavements. The family had been involved in numerous incidents of violence and intimidation, and police were regularly called on to deal with unruly disturbances.
Terrified residents were initially reluctant to complain, but landlords Wigan and Leigh Housing eventually collated a file of evidence against the Unsworth’s dating back to 2002 and worked closely with Greater Manchester Police to bring the tenancy to an end.
Ashley Crumbley, Chief Executive of Wigan and Leigh Housing, said:
“This kind of selfish and unruly behaviour, and complete disregard for neighbours and the community as a whole is completely unacceptable.
“The Unsworth’s reputation understandably deterred people from coming forward and giving us first hand evidence, so the process has taken longer than we would have liked. However, we got there in the end by working closely with the community and our partners.
“There are lessons to learn from this case and we have recruited a new officer to head up our approach to neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour. Although there is no ‘magic wand’ or quick fix, we will be meeting with tenants’ and residents’ representatives at the earliest opportunity to look at how we can improve our approach.
“Overall, this is a great result for partnership working and another example of the results which can be achieved when we work to support local people. A big well done to them, to the police and to our own staff.”
This case pre-dated the use of Introductory Tenancies which all new tenants now sign up to for an initial period of 12 months. This type of tenancy allows Wigan and Leigh Housing to take action at an earlier stage than with secure tenants.
For more information, please contact Kevin Ashcroft, Senior Tenancy Relations Officer, on 01942 705747.