Neighbours Rally Together To Clean Up The Streets!

A group of residents from Yarrow Close in March has taken to the streets armed with rubbish bags and garden tools to spend a morning improving their community.

Residents, staff from housing association Accent Nene, police, fire service, youth service and Fenland District Council recycling staff are all working in partnership to improve community safety and tackle anti-social behaviour in the area. To raise the positive profile of the community the team of residents and helpers took to the streets to clean up and enjoy a raft of other activities.

As part of the event Accent Nene provided a free skip to encourage residents to get rid of any large or difficult to dispose of rubbish. The team worked hard to remove rubbish from communal areas and pavements and gave their estate a spring clean as part of an event to launch Accent Nenes Good Neighbourhood Agreement.

This new agreement is the culmination of a series of regular meetings between Accent Nene, Cambridgeshire police and the Safer Fenland Partnership to tackle anti-social behaviour on the estate. It aims to prevent anti-social behaviour and neighbour nuisance by seeking residents participation and co-operation to actively promote community safety.

Accent Nene anti-social behaviour officer Annette Smith said: What we aim to achieve with the Good Neighbourhood Agreement is to get community members showing consideration to each other. We want to encourage them to take responsibility for childrens behaviour and keep the welfare of children in the community in mind.

By promoting positive behaviour and being a good neighbour, taking pride in their home and instilling respect for other peoples property, positive community spirit and inclusion the aim is to get residents keeping the local environment in a good state of cleanliness. This includes disposing of rubbish properly and maintaining gardens.

The agreement also encourages residents to park their vehicles with due consideration to other residents, keep pets under control and to report incidents of anti-social behaviour to the police, Accent Nene, Fenland District Council and partners.

Members of the Cambridgeshire Fire Service provided free home safety checks at the event to launch the agreement and gave out smoke alarms. Representatives of the councils youth service were also on hand with questionnaires to find out what activities children and teenagers living in the area would like to be provided. Local residents and their children took part in a series of other activities on the day including planting out on the green area and childrens play events and competitions.

The majority of Yarrow Close residents attended the event and gave their commitment to work with all the agencies involved and their landlord Accent Nene to make their community a place everyone can enjoy living in safely.

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