RESIDENTS who live on the UK’s ‘worst’ street rife with crime and prostitutes say the council’s solution won’t help.
The notorious “street of shame” in Birmingham regularly sees prostitutes selling sex for £1, drug gangs and burglars, according to locals.
A recent spike in stabbings, thefts and muggings on Slade Street has seen the council desperately try to clean up the area.
But some residents are not convinced by the £432,000 CCTV scheme being rolled out to tackle the problems.
Claire Jones told The Sun Online: “Cameras aren’t enough. Local police need to move on these drinkers and drug users.
“I live a five minutes’ walk away from the street and I avoid it like the plague. It’s a disgrace and I feel unsafe, and many others do too.”
She urged: “We need fines and some deterrent put in place. This street is the pits. It’s gone to the dogs. It’s unsafe.”
Another local, called Sarah, fumed: “Cameras don’t make up for the significant cuts in police. They won’t make a blind bit of difference, When did you last see any police walking the beat here?
“Drunks and drug users and general unpleasant people think it’s OK to be causing issues. It’s a joke.”
However, other locals, in particular traders, welcomed the new security measures and believe they will definitely help and “act as a deterrent.”
Monica Phillips, owner of popular Birmingham Reptiles told The Sun Online: “This is a good move for the street and more CCTV outside other premises will help. We have our own cameras inside and out.
“But installing more will hopefully make a difference and be helpful although we’ve not seen them up as yet.”
Chris Phillips, manager of the pet shop, which his step mum Monica opened 26 years ago, admitted: “There are drug addicts up and down the road, and people with mental health issues loitering around.
“Every morning about 4-5am there’s a gang of men standing around outside the Post Office, drinking, and trying to target customers at the cash point.”
While optician Abrar Hussain, boss of Specs Direct, said: “I don’t know the exact locations of these new cameras but, oh yes, they will definitely help.
“The promise of CCTV has been rumbling on for a while but nothing has been done as yet but they will help the situation, and will act as a deterrent.”
“Every morning about 4-5am there’s a gang of men standing around outside the Post Office, drinking, and trying to target customers at the cash point.”
Chris Phillips, resident
Eight to ten cameras have been earmarked for the road which local MP Paulette Hamilton describes as a “crime and antisocial behaviour hotspot”.
The politician said the council was spending more than £430,000 on “surveillance measures to monitor criminal behaviour.”
She said: “I’m really pleased that CCTV cameras are finally being installed in Stockland Green, and I know this will come as a huge relief to residents and businesses in the area.
“Stockland Green has become a crime and antisocial behaviour hotspot, and last week I arranged a meeting with local traders, residents’ groups, the police and Birmingham City Council to discuss the situation.
“At my meeting, it was fantastic to get confirmation that the £432,000 CCTV cameras are being installed this week. I know how important it is for residents and businesses to feel safe in Stockland Green.
“The new CCTV cameras will help monitor and deter criminal behaviour, as well as assist the police when it comes to catching offenders.”
Optician Abrar Hussain told The Sun Online: “The street has its ups and down. It’s been labelled Britain’s worst road and it has seen its peaks and troughs and right now there’s been a spike in crime and anti-social behaviour.
“Recently there’s been a lot of people in shared accommodation, vulnerable people out of prison and victims of domestic abuse, and they are not getting the support needed so there has been a spate of crime.
Abrar, 46, who has run Specs Direct since 2006, recalled: “This area of Erdington used to be a fantastic place to live and shop but it’s deteriorated which is such a shame.
“The people linked to crime are being neglected by the authorities. There was a case of a lady being found dead in shared accommodation who had been forgotten about.”
The respected optician, who used to live in a flat above his shop has now moved away.
He recalled: “When I used to live upstairs I came down one day to see a man urinating outside my front door. Not very nice.”
While resident Asif told how his car parked outside his home had repeatedly been broken into, while his neighbour’s vehicle had been stolen in the middle of the night.
And Café worker Pam Round told how the street had declined over the years, saying: “People tend to hang about on the street and sit in doorways and you get that nervous feeling when you walk down it, and it feels like a very sad area.”
The gran, 69, said: “I do feel safe in the day, but if I was to walk down it at night, I don’t think I would feel safe.
“There are two schools close by and I know parents drop their kids off at the secondary school, so they don’t get targeting by drug dealing.”
She continued: “It happens in broad daylight and parents are worried that their children will fall into it. You don’t see the police around here often which is worrying.”
A local man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “You have to have your wits about you around here.
“Kids are stabbing each other, I heard about the £5 prostitutes and it being Britain’s roughest street, but that will be like a badge of honour to these idiots.
“Police hardly show their faces around here either, you can’t walk along the street without being offered sex or drugs.
“It’s a shady area. I like to think I can look after myself but even I don’t bother going out after dark now.”
While one pensioner extraordinarily told of how he was continually propositioned by cut-price prostitutes, near an alleyway, with them asking: “Can you spare a pound – do you wanna do anything?”
The man, in his early 80’s, said: “I’ve been propositioned three or four times by prostitutes.
“These are young girls in their 20s and look Eastern European. It’s very offensive and tiresome.”
At the very bottom of Slade Road, under the huge concrete columns at Spaghetti Junction we came across rough sleeper Anthony Richardson.
The 38-year-old, living in a tiny makeshift cabin, said: “Welcome to my home. I’m right under Spaghetti Junction and the drone of traffic is constant. It’s awful but at least I keep dry.
“As for the street, there’s lots of druggies and thieves around, and it’s really rough.”
