A disabled woman living next door to a public garden overrun with a gang of youths at night is at her wit’s end after over a decade of “harassment”, with the local council doing “absolutely nothing” to intervene.
Debbie Dean, 52, who lives in a bungalow in Stoke-On-Trent, suffers from a tumour in her eye that has remained inoperable due to the stress she says she has been enduring thanks to the behaviour of the teenagers. Without proper treatment, she could soon go blind.
Dean lives in a property that overlooks Millennium Garden, a small green space that is designed for children six and under to use.
The park, which is currently being operated and maintained by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, was previously locked after the sun went down, which prohibited anyone accessing the space at night time.
A disabled woman living next door to a public garden overrun with a gang of youths (not pictured) at night is at her wit’s end after over a decade of “harassment”
Google Street View/GB News/Getty/Wikimedia Commons
However, in the last decade, the entrance gate has been left permanently open at all hours of the day, leading to local youths entering and using the space to hang out during anti-social hours.
Dean told GB News that the simple unlocking of a padlock has drastically altered both her mental and physical health, with her anxiety being so severe that she has had to have medical surgeries delayed after being deemed to be in “no fit state to undergo such intensive procedures”.
She said: “The park is designed for toddlers but there haven't been toddlers using it. It’s been teenagers, and they’ve been going in there all hours of day and night.
“I’ve had my car vandalised, I’ve had to put surveillance cameras up, there’s even been a carjacking outside of my house.
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The location of Dean's property (67) and Millennium Park
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A bin overturned in Millennium Garden
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“Once they ordered food to my house and when it arrived, they ended up nicking the takeaway man’s car.”
Last year, the police gave out anti-social behaviour (ASB) letters to some of the individuals, though Dean says with the gate still open, the incidents just continue to happen.
Dean said that now when she lets her dogs out at night, she arms herself with a baseball bat as she is so fearful for her safety.
She continued: “It’s so pitch-black in there that anybody could be in there. I’ll lie in bed and hear them in my garden. I constantly have to have my windows and doors shut because of the noise and the shouting.”
Dean says that when corresponding with the council, they have told her that they cannot afford to have someone ensure the gate is shut at night.
“All they’ve got to do is lock this gate,” she despaired, frustrated that the seemingly easily solvable situation was causing such a headache.
Dean also suffers from a disability and so has had the house modified to make it more accessible. She therefore said that she doesn’t see moving as an option, adding: “I also don’t want to let them win.”
Rubbish left on the floor in Millennium Garden
GB News
The council have told her that she can have a set of keys herself to lock the gate, though she does not see this as a viable option, partly due to her physical health problems, but also out of fear that the teenagers will cause her harm.
The 52-year-old now suffers from chronic anxiety and depression, as well as frequent panic attacks which she claims are a result of the nightly stress from the park.
All this has further exacerbated her worsening physical health, including a tumour which affects her eyesight.
She says she could go blind if left untreated, though due to intense stress, it has been delayed. “I just couldn’t cope with having it,” she said.
Planning permission recently obtained by Dean confirmed that Stoke-On-Trent City Council agreed to have a lockable gate on the premises back in 2000.
It said: “That a gateway entrance to match the fencing with a width of two metres be sited centrally to place this adjacent to an existing lowered kerb. That the gateway be lockable and that access to the garden area be during the hours of daylight.”
Dean is now hoping to take legal action against the council, which she claims has not taken any accountability for their failure to intervene.
Stoke-on-Trent City Councillor Amjid Wazir OBE, cabinet member for city pride, enforcement and sustainability, said: “We are looking into Ms. Dean’s complaints. We take ASB very seriously, and work closely with partners, like Staffordshire Police, to ensure action is taken in hotspot areas.
“If anyone witnesses ASB, we advise you to call 101. If it is urgent, please call 999. Do not put yourself at risk.”
