ALTON Community Centre is turning the tables on teenage vandals with the planned installation of a sophisticated CCTV system and improved lighting in the adjoining car park. Young people intent on anti-social behaviour are being warned that in future their actions will be recorded for use as evidence. Instead, they are being encouraged to come in and take part in some of the activities on offer. The decision to go ahead with a £5,500 scheme to install CCTV surveillance follows two years of many at the centre feeling under siege from young people who have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and seem intent on scaring off centre users. According to Alton Community Association (ACA) chairman Pat Lerew, the centre has suffered from a catalogue of vandalism, including broken windows, smashed guttering, downpipes being ripped off the wall and thrown into the river, bins set on fire, lead flashing torn off the roof, a wheelie bin being rammed into the front door, damage to the toilet blocks and graffiti on the walls and surrounding pavement. Glass bottles have been thrown across the car park, two different minibuses vandalised, car tyres let down and eggs thrown at the front doors. Even more serious is the intimidation of centre users, and outbursts of violence which have included an assault on the caretaker. But now the community centre is fighting back. With plans in the pipeline for a new building in 2008/09 and an active and well - supported programme of activities, ACA staff and trustees are putting a package in place to counteract anti-social behaviour, and, if possible, to reverse the trend by taking positive action to try to include young people in more meaningful activity. According to centre manager Richard Swainston, a community police architect has advised clearing the car park of ground cover, removing any seating and improving the overall lighting of the area. He also advocated the use of CCTV surveillance cameras. East Hampshire District Council has already cleared the ground cover and removed the bench where young people used to congregate. "Just to break the habit. It can eventually be reinstated," commented Mr Swainston. In November last year, EHDC's cabinet agreed the installation of improved sodium lighting in the car park and, according EHDC parking and highways manager Ian Eyres, the council is now waiting for Hampshire County Council to come up with a quote for the work. The sodium lighting is said to be better for the environment as it creates less light pollution and it will provide the right sort of light for effective CCTV footage. Mr Swainston said that the centre is to benefit from an eight-camera CCTV network, comprising three internal and five external cameras which will give a full colour, permanent recording onto a hard drive-based system using security-tagged DVDs which "can and will" be used as evidence in court. The external cameras will give clear footage of the car park, Amery Street and its continuation into Vicarage Hall, past the library. The footage will be able to be accessed on the internet by people with a password, including the police, who will be able to watch events as they are going on. Richard Swainston is giving a clear warning to the culprits, which he intends to put in writing and hand to them so they understand the consequences of any further anti-social behaviour. As part of the centre's expanding leisure learning programme, his hope is also to introduce courses on parenting skills and maybe to include courses that parents and children can attend together as a way of trying to improve behaviour and attitude to life. The community centre's action plan is viewed by the police as "a positive step forward" in combating the problem. According to Sgt Moore, the police are still seeking a dispersal order for the area but have lacked clear evidence - the proposed CCTV system will provide that. Together with the clearing of foliage and improved lighting, it should also make people feel safer, said Sgt Moore, who confirmed that the police were taking a "robust" approach to the problem and were working closely with ACA, using the Shopwatch system and visible patrolling. "We are making progress, but it was never going to be an instant fix," he said. Sadly all these measures come at a cost. Additional training has had to be undertaken by community centre staff on lone working and dealing with aggression, new policies and procedures have been developed to cope with the problems. There have been endless meetings with relevant agencies and the centre itself has had to instal additional lighting. ACA has also negotiated paying into Alton Town Council's private security patrol system, and is now facing a £5,500 bill for a new CCTV system which it is hoping to pay for with grant funding from EHDC and the Hampshire Police Authority. In the meantime, pressure has been put on the local authorities to come up with the cash to improve the car park lighting. So frustrated have those at the centre become with the three month delay, that they has lobbied East Hampshire MP Michael Mates to put his weight behind the request to speed up the process. "We need the lights to be working now while the evenings are dark," said Richard Swainston who confirmed that one of ACA's biggest fears is that, with the halving of police presence in Alton over the last three years and with the impending change of policing boundaries in May which will link Alton with Aldershot (rather than Winchester) the town could be left with insufficient police protection, totally reliant on private security cover and CCTV surveillance, forcing local people to pay twice over to maintain law and order.
