Guest
2007-09-25

Green eyed monster
We know we're lucky to live in such a nice area and we know that others may be a little jealous and that has been obvious by the negative comments posted here.

This was a positive campaign with a positive outcome. Not only did our community worked together to preserve the area we live in any our way of life but another great positive about this campaign has been that it has brought members of the community, young and old, disabled and able bodied and many nationalities together as one.

Hopefully this is only the beginning and our community will continue to work together and make Bickley an even better place to live.

Guest
2007-09-24

Just moved back from America...
I'm sorry to hear about your experiences in the past concerning young people (truly); However right now you live in quite a nice area and I think the best thing to do is to have those experiences in mind to use in a positive way. Not in the way that this campaign has done. To exclude people from a community based on paranioa and hysteria is completely wrong and if the unit had opened up a them and us scenario would have happened very effectively and quickly which could lead to friction and hassle that could have been avoided in the first place. Just to let you know. I am a working class lad brought up on council estates in Battersea and Hackney and I'm not looking at this through rose tinted spectacles..

Guest
2007-09-24

What next for Your Bickley ?
Now that you've succeeded in your negative campaign perhaps you could turn your attention to more positive action? This area will only be a nice place to live in if we all try to consider our neighbours. That means identifying things that we can do such as looking out for the elderly people who live alone, or organising activities for the local children so that they have something better to do than writing graffiti at the station. How about campaigning for a 20mph speed limit to make Southlands Road a safer place for children? It's really easy to be negative & complain about troublesome youths but much more difficult to take action.

Guest
2007-09-22

Bickley Resident with 2 teenagers
we moved back to London from America 2 years ago and made a mistake and took advice from a friend and rented a property in Tottenham. 1 year of abusive teenagers on the streets was enough for all of us, my car was vandalised, my motorbike was stolen twice, the final straw was when my daughter was attacked walking home from the tubestation. we found Bickley because we wanted somewhere safe and quiet. i applaud the yourbickley team and thank you deeply for your actions to preserve the area. my parents are in the Midlands and they are pensioners and their house has been burgled 3 times by the same youth. the police know who he is but can do nothing about it. he has an asbo but that does not stop him. he is a catalyst for other youths and the area has become tense, upset and nervous. it is no exaggeration that people are selling their houses and leaving the area. it takes only 1 disruptive disturbed individual to make life a misery for people. do not be fooled by the comments posted here by individuals pretending to have a greater understanding. they obviously have no direct experience of the reality of the destruction and havoc a single disturbed teenager can wreak on a community, nevermind a whole bunch of them. thanks again

Guest
2007-09-20

Ashamed?
I think you should be ashamed of yourselves. The undercurrent of your protest is a disgrace. Someone mentioned taking taxpayers money. Have you put up posters asking the owners of the old people's home at the top of the road to close? Yes of course the opening of Atlanta House would be about profit. But then again I see lots of different businesses on this road that can snarl up traffic, and not a word is said. No, I think the real reason you have complained is because your precious lives may or may not be disrupted by a couple of damaged young people you have chosen to demonise, even though you even haven't met them.

Guest
2007-09-19

Well done?
I don't really think congratulations should be in order. A couple of questions for you; Would you have protested so much if it was an older peoples home that was being proposed? Secondly; How did you find the time to tear yourselves away from the queue at Northern Rock? A few rougher young people would have kept the locals chavs in order anyway, but then again, the Bickley young people are all angels right?

Guest
2007-09-07

Still Waiting
Mr Sloan, Precision Care, what can you possibly still be discussing? It's now another month on and your property is looking abandoned, not a good advert for you or the community. Please make your decision (the right one) so we can all move on.

Guest
2007-08-23

to Community Spirit
If youve lived here for five years and failed to notice the recent improvements in the community only achieved by the hard work and spirit of those involved one can see why you fail to notice the dangers of Precision Care and their 'customers'.Well said Concerned Local I wholeheartedly concur.

Guest
2007-08-22

Concerned Local
Well said.

Concerned Local Resident
2007-08-22

To : Community Spirit?
Like Community Spirit?, I am also in favour of giving everybody the opportunity to better themselves. However, in considering the possible opening of this home, let us rationally consider a few things: 1) Precision Care have only been in existence for 3 years and do not have enough of a track record of running such homes to comfort me - and, seemingly, the vast majority of local residents. In fact, they have already bought an old peoples' home and closed it within a year. If they were to do that here, who would pick up the pieces? Be assured, Precision Care are a commercial organisation who would not hesitate to 'cut and run' if this venture is not sufficiently profitable and are therefore a lot less'charitable' than local residents. 2) Precision Care have already shown their true colours by applying to run a home for one category of problem children, only to apply to Ofsted to run it as a Bail Hostel and thus 'sneak in via the back door'. Their attempt to blame this on their recently departed MD, even though their Childrens' Director, Wil Sloan, had openly advocated this type of 'home' at a public meeting in Colchester, is laughable. Even if it were true, could we be confident that their strategy would not change again - and again? I, for one, am just not able to believe that their standards are sufficiently high to be trusted to run a home like this. 3) Bromley Council doesn't want this home opened, will not place local children in it and has a stated policy of placing 'in care' children in foster homes and not residential homes. Atlanta House is to be for problem children from other Local Authorities. Surely it would be better for them to be cared for by their own Local Authorities, which would, after all, have to pay for their care wherever they are housed. 4) Precision Care have only bought Atlanta House because it was available, not because their planned facility was needed locally. 5) Let us not delude ourselves that local residents would not be affected if this home opens. While the occupants are classified as children, the age range will be 12-18. While I have great sympathy for their circumstances, they are, after all, 'problem children'. My own experience is via two of my daughters who have worked with the 'behaviourally challenged'. One has been threatened at knifepoint and both have suffered verbal abuse on a very regular basis. However selfish it might seem, I prefer not to have the potential for this to happen 'on my doorstep', which it surely will. In conclusion, I applaud Community Spirit? for his/her standards, but this is very much a minority view and the realists amongst us are strongly opposed to Precision Care - whose standards are very definitely a lot lower than yours.