80 syringes found in towerblock carpark (From Basildon Recorder)
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80 syringes found in towerblock carpark
9:00am Wednesday 17th October 2012 in News By Gina Marden
80 syringes found in towerblock carpark
DRUG addicts left 80 syringes lying on the floor of a tower block car park causing fears it has become a magnet for users.
Now some frightened residents living at Brooke House in Basildon’s Town Square are even more desperate to leave the flats after the shocking revelation.
Last week the Echo told residents told of the Grade II listed-building the flats had become a dump with drug users littering the stairwells and hallways and people even leaving human waste in public areas.
Basildon Council has recently been hosting drop-in coffee mornings for residents of the tower block to address concerns over the lift repairs currently taking place.
But, at one of the sessions, residents raised concerns the flats’ car park - which is behind metal gates by the Marks & Spencer side of the multi-storey on Great Oaks - was also being used by addicts.
The council carried out a clean of the car park where they found a shocking 80 discarded syringes lying on the ground, as well as burnt foil and spoons, which is commonly used by junkies to burn down rocks of heroin and crack cocaine.
Lesley Slater, Basildon Council’s area housing services manager, said the authority will now clean the Brooke House car park every fortnight.
Comments(37)
perini
says...
9:09am Wed 17 Oct 12
So what's the magic number of syringes that has to be found before these idiots at the Council finally arrive at the conclusion that druggies are using this building?
fletch12107
says...
9:58am Wed 17 Oct 12
Eric Whim
says...
10:57am Wed 17 Oct 12
AndyBSG
says...
11:05am Wed 17 Oct 12
All the money and spit and polish on Basildon Town Centre isn't going to be worth a thing if the middle of the development is still populated by this asbo ridden crack den but the fact it's a listed building is going to make it very hard to do anything about it.
Best thing to do is strip it of it's listed status, on the grounds of public interest, then tear it down and evict the animals living there.
SpiffSpaffington1984
says...
11:24am Wed 17 Oct 12
PJR-121
says...
12:11pm Wed 17 Oct 12
The Echo told them? Either The Echo has taken it upon itself to inform residents of their views on properties in Essex, the residents are blind, or that's a typo, and should say 'residents told the Echo'
Let's look at the form of this newspaper and website - and make a decision based on that... hmm....
Basildon.lad.21
says...
12:36pm Wed 17 Oct 12
Basildon.lad.21
says...
12:37pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc
says...
1:06pm Wed 17 Oct 12
SpiffSpaffington1984 wrote:what percentage of the block is owner occupier...1-2%? long odds against the owner occupiers being the druggies. the rest are being housed at your expense. frogmarch them down the excrement filled stairwells, hose them down and stick a needle in their arm if they don't provide a urine sample (shouldn't be too hard to find a puncture mark and a vein). simples!
"compulsory drug tests for the residents" what planet are you on? It's not earth that's for sure! An entire building full of people ranging from teenagers to pensioners are not going to agree to be drug tested and what kind of nazi organisation would make them? Some people rent privately or own their property, the council has no say over those people. People campaign against DNA being kept from innocent people, let alone making an entire building wee in plastic cups on a regular basis because a small group of drug users cause a neusance, it's not for 100+ people to prove their innocence it's for the council to keep the place clean and stop scum from bothering the normal residents, you are a complete fantasist
SpiffSpaffington1984
says...
1:37pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc
says...
1:39pm Wed 17 Oct 12
SpiffSpaffington1984
says...
2:03pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc
says...
2:08pm Wed 17 Oct 12
SpiffSpaffington1984 wrote:fair enough. i give way and agree to raise the numbers. who has a problem giving a urine sample if they are clean? forget human rights - the roof over many of their heads is being paid for by the taxpayer.
There's 86 flats, 1 or 2% is less than 1 flat. I don't live there myself but have known 6 people that have over the years and the floors they lived on were about half & half.
J Arthur Rank
says...
3:33pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc wrote:I don't really understand why you should say " the roof over many of their heads is being paid for by the taxpayer."
SpiffSpaffington1984 wrote:fair enough. i give way and agree to raise the numbers. who has a problem giving a urine sample if they are clean? forget human rights - the roof over many of their heads is being paid for by the taxpayer.
There's 86 flats, 1 or 2% is less than 1 flat. I don't live there myself but have known 6 people that have over the years and the floors they lived on were about half & half.
You accept that many own their flats within the building, I assume that those who don't are paying rent one way or another. How does that equate to the taxpayer paying?
asbo industries inc
says...
4:03pm Wed 17 Oct 12
J Arthur Rank
says...
4:24pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc wrote:Yes, but Housing Benefit is only paid to people who rent and then only to those who qualify after means-testing and the amount of benefit paid may not amount to the full rent (if my understanding of the benefit is correct). Do you think there are really that many claimants in Brooke House? Or was your original assertion possibly baseless?
ever heard of that thing called housing benefit?
asbo industries inc
says...
4:37pm Wed 17 Oct 12
J Arthur Rank
says...
5:01pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc wrote:For what it's worth I would guess that a one-bed flat leasehold would sell at the very bottom end of the market for such property- something around £60k and I doubt it would rent for much more than £450 p.m. I take your point that it is probably the least desirable of addresses in Basildon but I still doubt very much that the taxpayer is being burdened to the extent you have suggested.
a local authority towerblock in central basildon. what is your best estimate of the cost of a rental? means test...these people have nothing except drug habits and illegitimate children. do you not think the law abiders would move if they could? this is the 3rd brooke house horror story in less than a week, the second paragraph of this story describes frightened residents desperate to get out. it's not astro physics.
I have no knowledge of astrophysics but you are right- it's not that.
asbo industries inc
says...
5:24pm Wed 17 Oct 12
J Arthur Rank
says...
5:41pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc wrote:Even if HB claimants had their full rent paid there are a large number of owner/occupiers who would not qualify. I would be plucking a figure out of the air if I were to estimate the number of claimants in Brooke House but I do believe that the impression you seem to seek to give, that large numbers are involved, is likely false.
one bed flat is 50k offered. bid is likely significantly less than 50k and going south every time one of these stories is printed. your rent estimate is i would think not out of the ball park. now back to your assertion that the amount of benefit may not amount to the full rent....
I suppose, since neither of us have the figures, we may have to agree to disagree.
asbo industries inc
says...
5:56pm Wed 17 Oct 12
p.gov.uk/asd/asd1/st
ats_summary/stats_su
mmary_aug12.pdf
here are the national numbers. needless to say they are large and growing. now overlay these numbers on a local authority tower block in basildon
asbo industries inc
says...
5:58pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc
says...
5:59pm Wed 17 Oct 12
J Arthur Rank
says...
6:17pm Wed 17 Oct 12
asbo industries inc wrote:I think you know better than to suggest that such figures could be 'overlayed'. I am not a statistician but have a feeling that a statistician would refuse to make the sort of assumptions you are asking me to make.
http://statistics.dw
p.gov.uk/asd/asd1/st
ats_summary/stats_su
mmary_aug12.pdf
here are the national numbers. needless to say they are large and growing. now overlay these numbers on a local authority tower block in basildon
asbo industries inc
says...
6:31pm Wed 17 Oct 12
muffindamule
says...
7:30pm Wed 17 Oct 12
Druggie Scumbag
says...
7:43pm Wed 17 Oct 12
muffindamule wrote:They're still sought after. I think asbo's right about the £50k. Where will I ever get that sought of dosh? I suppose I could try renting one and get it paid on the HB. It might even make a decent grow room as long as the lifts aren't working as the police are probably too lazy or unfit to walk up the stairs. Top floor would be best then.
As I remember, when the flats were built they were very much sought after. How times change !
asbo industries inc
says...
8:44pm Wed 17 Oct 12
Druggie Scumbag wrote:maybe you could put a polytunnel on the roof?
muffindamule wrote:They're still sought after. I think asbo's right about the £50k. Where will I ever get that sought of dosh? I suppose I could try renting one and get it paid on the HB. It might even make a decent grow room as long as the lifts aren't working as the police are probably too lazy or unfit to walk up the stairs. Top floor would be best then.
As I remember, when the flats were built they were very much sought after. How times change !
Bettycraven
says...
9:43pm Wed 17 Oct 12
To be honest it wasn't too bad living there, it's a great central location and has amazing views. It's a shame as it has the potential to be a great building.
Rochford Rob
says...
4:23pm Thu 18 Oct 12
A proper presence and some determined action by Plod and the courts could solve this within a week, but then we know, that is never going to happen is it?
Eric Whim
says...
10:01am Fri 19 Oct 12
Rochford Rob
says...
12:30pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Eric Whim wrote:Who in their right mind would want to even visit Basildon, let alone stay there?
why not turn it into a hotel....
If you believe half the comments posted here it's some sort of drug / criminal / lowlife centre
Eric Whim
says...
2:08pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Rochford Rob wrote:there are already severa hotels in Basidon and there seems to be plans for at least one more (by or on the golf course) and if I remember correctly the redevelopment/regene
Eric Whim wrote:Who in their right mind would want to even visit Basildon, let alone stay there?
why not turn it into a hotel....
If you believe half the comments posted here it's some sort of drug / criminal / lowlife centre
ration plans for the town centre include a hotel.
Whether this is planned to go where the old ABC cinema is or somewhere else it looks like there's the capacity required.
I agree that in recent decades Brooke House has earned a less than salutory reputation for the 'quaity' of it's tenants but I'm sure there are decent, hardworking and honest people living there too.
I think that it wouldn't be too ludicrous to transform the buiding into a hotel in the process of regenerating the Town Centre. The residents can always be transferred to one of the many thousand new houses the Council are desperately nailing up and planning for the future and the problem of Brooke House degenerating into a vision of a dystopian J.G. Ballard style 'Hi-rise' would be solved
asbo industries inc
says...
3:34pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Eric Whim wrote:you've hit the nail on the head. high rise local authority buildings in city centres are always a disaster. look no further than the multi storey trash on queensway for example. however it is prime city centre real estate. the tenants of these properties should be moved out of town into low rise accommodation and the law breakers, substance abusers weeded out.
Rochford Rob wrote:there are already severa hotels in Basidon and there seems to be plans for at least one more (by or on the golf course) and if I remember correctly the redevelopment/regene
Eric Whim wrote:Who in their right mind would want to even visit Basildon, let alone stay there?
why not turn it into a hotel....
If you believe half the comments posted here it's some sort of drug / criminal / lowlife centre
ration plans for the town centre include a hotel.
Whether this is planned to go where the old ABC cinema is or somewhere else it looks like there's the capacity required.
I agree that in recent decades Brooke House has earned a less than salutory reputation for the 'quaity' of it's tenants but I'm sure there are decent, hardworking and honest people living there too.
I think that it wouldn't be too ludicrous to transform the buiding into a hotel in the process of regenerating the Town Centre. The residents can always be transferred to one of the many thousand new houses the Council are desperately nailing up and planning for the future and the problem of Brooke House degenerating into a vision of a dystopian J.G. Ballard style 'Hi-rise' would be solved
elaen
says...
1:55pm Mon 22 Oct 12
Eric Whim
says...
4:31pm Wed 24 Oct 12
he triangle thing across the road for the homeless
also known locally as The Temple Of Gloom
asbo industries inc says...
9:05am Wed 17 Oct 12