For residents of Tilbury, Essex, rampant antisocial behaviour is a daily challenge.
Daylight drug deals and “gangs of youths” wheelying on motorbikes down residential streets is a regular occurrence and fly-tipping is a “huge concern”.
And yet, in the face of those obstacles, Tilbury “gels together like no other community”. What’s more, properties in the area “sell quite quick”, despite the area’s “rep”.
In fact, some homes in the area can be snapped up for £100,000, despite its proximity to London.
Cllr John Allen, who represents the Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park ward on Thurrock Council, told Express.co.uk that young men speeding around on “unlicensed motorcycles” is one of the town’s “main concerns”.
However, he claimed Essex Police “are not doing much at all about it”. He told this website: “We see a lot of antisocial behaviour locally. You can see sort of gangs of youths loitering.
“One of the main concerns for us in Tilbury is the riding of unlicensed motorcycles, which have been ridden erratically.
“And basically Essex Police are not doing much about it at all to be honest with you, because they’re saying a lot of these riders have no helmets when riding [so] they can’t chase, in case they [the rider] were to be hurt and they’d be sued.”
The independent councillor added: “So basically they’re just letting them do it, to be honest with you.”
Cllr Allen said that the rogue motorcyclists regularly zoomed “up residential streets on the back wheel, wheelying”, adding that “it’s quite out of control really”.
The councillor was quick to point out that there had been a recent motorcycle-related fatality in neighbouring Chadwell St Mary’s, where a 27-year-old man on a moped lost his life in a collision with a bus.
Cllr Allen fears somebody from his community might be the next to fall victim to a motorcycle incident.
He explained: “What if old Betty who goes down the shop like for some tea bags and she’s crossing the road and she’s not too clever on her feet, not too fast, and then one of these motorbikes comes from nowhere and ploughs her down?
“At best they’re going to break her hip, is she ever going to recover from that? Or is she going to be murdered? That’s my concern, there’s been some awful close ones.”
As well as the motorcyclists, Tilbury is also gripped by drug dealing and fly-tipping. Albeit, Cllr Allen was keen to point out such issues are pervasive in communities up and down the country.
On the subject of drug dealing, he said: “I have seen it with my own eyes, there’s open drug dealing going on.
“You can see an exchange taking place. Obviously the product and money, you don’t know what it is, it could be anything – it could be Class A, Class B.”
He added: “The fly-tipping, that’s a huge concern. You know, unwanted goods are ending up on the streets.”
Despite the myriad social issues Tilbury faces, the councillor spoke glowingly about the area’s unique community spirit.
He said: “Tilbury is very much a community really, when it does gel together it gels together like no other community. When something goes wrong or something, it absolutely pulls together.
“I’d say the people are still really good people and definitely the good ones outway the bad. It’s just those few I think that make it bad for everyone else.”
And perhaps Tilbury’s community atmosphere explains the area’s liquid property market. Lennard & Hill Residential Estate Agent’s said that property values in the area are such that homes “sell quite quick”.
The agent we spoke to explained: “It’s a fairly busy price range many of the houses there will operate in. That sort of 350 (thousand) mark is usually quite busy. A lot of it is rental down there, some council but there’s a lot of it that’s privately owned that we deal with that’s not stagnant.
“It has a rep doesn’t it like all areas, but there is variation. So you’ve got your nicer roads and some of them [are] a bit different. The market itself, with regards to the property market, no it’s not stagnant there.
“Regardless of people’s thoughts perhaps on the area, I mean it’s priced accordingly. It’s cheaper there than neighbouring Grays or Chadwell St Mary’s”.
In terms of property values in the town, our research found properties selling for as little as £100,00, with the average price for a property around £285,000 according to Rightmove.
Inspector Terry Fisher, of Thurrock Community Policing Team, said: “We work in partnership with Thurrock Council to tackle anti-social behaviour, including the anti-social and disruptive use of motorcycles, near houses and on private land.
“This includes the purchasing of two quad bikes in partnership with the council to combat bikers using green space near houses as racetracks. Our approach to tackle anti-social behaviour in the Thurrock district is working, with 814 fewer incidents in the 12 months to January, a drop of 32% year-on-year.
“Operation Valour has been running in Tilbury for three months now and has seen additional patrols in Tilbury town and engagement with local business. Only two weeks ago we spoke with shopkeepers on the parade with the support of our Business Crime Team and local council members.”
He added: “Everyone we engaged with welcomed the additional officers. We rely on our good links with the community in Tilbury, and our partnership with the council, to continue to tackle this issue.
“It is vital where incidents of anti-social behaviour do occur, you let us know about it so we can continue to take action.”
Express.co.uk approached Thurrock Council for comment.
