Not A Ghost Of A Chance (Updated)

29/06/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Not A Ghost Of A Chance
I received a letter recently from Cambridgeshire Police.  Apparently they want to close Ghost Passage for “3 months, possibly 6 months”.  Since I am a resident adjacent to the alleyway they’ve written to me to “confirm I have been consulted.”

I haven’t been consulted. 

Unless this letter confirming I have been is supposed to actually be the consultation - which would be a pretty sad state of affairs I think.

Before I proceed I should stress that I write this blog entry as a private citizen, not with my County Council hat on.  My division does not actually include the area in which I live (missing it by about 200 yds, but that’s neither here nor there.)  So I’m writing as a resident and property owner on this issue.

For those who do not live nearby: Ghost Passage is an alleyway with three entrances that winds and twists it’s way along the back of The Crescent and Alexandra Road in Wisbech.  It’s also known as “Gunson’s Passage” and is something of a historic little path, in its own quiet way.

The police state their reasons for wanting to close the alleyway (by erecting fences blocking all the entrances).  These are; Graffiti Removal, Needle Removal & Prevention of Antisocial Behaviour.

I’ve seen graffiti removal being done a few times.  It doesn’t take six months, or even three months and I see no reason why it would cause the alleyway to need to be closed.  Needle Removal takes even less time - and I should add that in the 8 years I’ve been walking along Ghost Alley pretty much every single day I’ve never seen any needles lying around.  Let’s try to keep this in perspective.  Perhaps there have been one or two - a sign of the times - but it’s not like the alleyway is littered with them and I’ve never encountered any at all.

Which leads me to the sad conclusion that the real reason for closure is antisocial behaviour.  Yes, groups of youths do hang around in the alley at times.  Yes there is some vandalism and some antisocial behaviour on occasion.  But is this really how we deal with the occasional problem people now - close the area to the public? 

Quite frankly, I see a lot more antisocial behaviour going on outside the Angles Theatre beside me than I ever hear from the alley behind me.  So does that mean we close Alexandra Road?  Of course not.  The nearby churchyard is always host to groups of drunk leery visitors to Britain, but that remains joyfully open to all.  Are we really at the point where our solution is to put up fences and close up shop?  God forbid the police might actually patrol once in a while to encourage order - oh no, let’s just build a barrier and sweep the problem under the carpet.

Why do I even care?  It’s only an alley, right?  Well first - I rather like that alley.  I walk my dogs through it every night and have done since I moved to Wisbech eight years ago.  But even before I moved here, when I was just visiting the town, I used it.  I found it’s winding route and quaint meandering brick-lined passages charming back then and I still do.  It’s mostly peaceful and it’s pleasantly old-fashioned.   But more importantly I really don’t like this idea of just surrendering.  Of seeing a problem and instead of trying to solve it - just walling it up and pretending it isn’t there.  I don’t like to be bullied away from places I enjoy by a tiny minority of difficult social elements.

It may be that my fellow residents want the alleyway closed.  It certainly is easier to throw up your hands and accept any solution that’ll move trouble on from your doorstep.  But I hope that’s not the case.  I hope they agree that there are other - better - ways of dealing with this than closure.

Cambridgeshire Police say this is for 3 months, maybe 6 months.  That’s too long.  But I worry that what they really mean is forever and this is the quiet way of getting the ball rolling.  Maybe nobody cares, but I think that would be a sad day indeed.

Cambridgeshire Police want me to fill in a form saying I “consent” to the closure.  Well I don’t.  Will that make any difference?  I doubt it.  But I wanted to say it anyway.

Update 30th June 2009: 

After further discussions and a flurry of emails brought on by my blog and my comments thus far, the Powers That Be assure me “everybody but me” is in favour of this.  I just can’t believe that.  I’ve decided to find out and have posted letters to all the residences in Alexandra Road, The Crescent and Ghost Passage asking for their views.  Comments on this blog and responses received thus far seem to suggest the Powers That Be are talking from their posterior.  But we’ll see when a few more comments come in.  On my side of the fence - Town and District Cllr Jonathan Farmer seems to agree (and suggests most of the Town Council do too.) 

On the other side of the debate - Councillor Kit Owen, while not expressing an opinion directly, suggested I was “point scoring” (whatever that means).  I’m not point scoring, I’m just speaking up for what I believe.  Isn’t that what we expect one another to do in a civilised democracy?  County Cllr. Simon King does not share my view on this, saying plainly he “supports the closure”.  I have a great deal of respect for Simon King, but I simply cannot see how the solution to an antisocial behaviour problem in a public right of way is to put up barriers to the public.  This is not Northern Ireland during the troubles.  This is Wisbech.  So in this instance I am afraid I have to respectfully disagree with the view of my friend and colleagues.

I plan to meet Insp Sissons next week with whatever evidence I have managed to gather and state the case against closure.  If any readers of my blog agree with me, please take the time to email me on me@stevetierney.org, text or phone me on 07831 616127, or write to me at Steve Tierney, 6 Alexandra Road., Wisbech PE13 1HQ.  The more comments I receive the better case I will have when I meet the police.

I must again stress that it may turn out that the majority of my neighbours think this is a great idea.  If that turns out to be the case then I will be disappointed, but I will pursue this no further.  Democracy is democracy.  I don’t enjoy causing a stink just for the sake of it.  I just feel obliged to show there is another side to the argument.  I hope that seems reasonable.

Posted in Ghost Passage, Wisbech | 5 Comments »