Residents in Ramsgate’s Addington Street are calling for action, saying their lives are being blighted by drug dealing and antisocial behaviour related to a property in the street.
They say complaints of overpowering heroin fumes, a string of addicts coming in and out, intimidation and suspected cuckooing of a young man who then died of a drugs overdose last year have still not resulted in the property being shut down.
One family who live in the street, but asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said the problems have been going on for five years.
The husband said: “For five years now our lives have been ruined by the property that was originally filled with addicts and dealers. It got so bad that the upper floor tenants asked to move and a family has complained of heroin fumes poisoning their children and they have asked to move.
“We reported everything, submitted videos, even warned East Kent Housing that a very young tenant was taking heroin and was being ‘cuckooed’ by London gangs.
“I, along with Ramsgate Councillor Becky Wing, warned EKH that the boy was in serious danger of death if there wasn’t some kind of intervention. Well, the boy died. The sight of his mother sitting shocked and weeping on the steps of that property will stay with me forever.
“EKH take no responsibility for their tenants at all, leaving them to run riot and deal with impunity. I even heard one tenant ask a resident “what they were doing on *his* street”.
“It is not up to us to police the tenants put here and they know they can do what they want and there is just no comeback.
“Everyone deserves a place to live but it is then down to how you act in the community. The noise is terrible and the constant drug dealing is shocking.”
Ward councillor Becky Wing is aware of the situation and says after a quiet period antisocial behaviour has now started again.
She said: “Despite years of locals reporting to the police, East Kent Housing and Thanet District Council concerning the ongoing issues with the distribution of drugs from a property on Addington Street, very little seems to have been done.
“As the Ward Councillor, it is frustrating that the hard work of locals in trying to improve their street and area is blighted by this and associated antisocial behaviour particularly at night. Residents report that the dealing of drugs has become so blatant that a number of cars regularly pull up and ‘a deal is done’ in broad daylight, people hang around the back alleys and there are frequent visitors to the property during the night, putting the other tenants ‘at risk’.
“This is generally a peaceful and friendly street where there is a real sense of community and people ‘look out for each other’. What we need urgently is for the police, East Kent Housing and the appropriate officer from the council to come and listen to the concerns of locals. I am also very worried about possible exploitation of those involved in the actual dealing of the drugs, they are at the ‘end of the distribution network’ and so are likely to suffer threats and violence themselves from those higher up.
“As the ward councillor, I feel Ramsgate is a great place to live, I certainly love living here, but I just want our streets to be places where we can all live safely, happily and lookout for each other, locals do so much but with situations like this they need those with the authority to help.”
‘Current investigation’
Inspector Daniel Carter from the Thanet Community Safety Unit said: “Kent Police has been made aware of alleged anti-social behaviour and drug dealing taking place in Addington Street, Ramsgate.
“Officers do not tolerate drug dealing and the associated violent crime which comes with it and are currently investigating any potential offences which may have taken place.
“The community safety unit will be swift to carry out any required enforcement action to bring offenders to justice and will work closely with local partner agencies to safeguard any potential victims.
“It is important that residents who have any suspicions of drug dealing taking place in their local area to report it either via our website or by calling 101 (or 999 if a crime is in progress).
“Their information is crucial not only in identifying trouble spots but also builds up the evidence needed to introduce preventative measures, such as eviction orders and community protection notices.”
‘Report it’
A Thanet District Council spokesperson added: “When a property has been reported to us for persistent anti-social behaviour, we will discuss issues with both the tenant and neighbours to try and resolve the situation as quickly as possible. These discussions may include suggestions for those involved to record instances of behaviour they find unacceptable, with dates and times. We may also provide advice to those involved about being respectful to neighbours, for example by explaining the impact of late night parties and frequent visitors.
“If anti-social behaviour is believed to involve any form of illegal activity, this will be reported to the police. In cases where criminal behaviour is reported, with our support, the police will lead on any subsequent investigation.
“All reports of anti-social behaviour are taken seriously, as we understand the effect that this can have on tenants and neighbouring properties. We will not hesitate to involve the police when necessary, to ensure suitable action is taken to protect the wellbeing of all our tenants.
“We encourage anybody who has been subjected to threatening behaviour to report this immediately to Kent Police via 101 or 999 if they believe there is imminent danger.”
East Kent Housing has been contacted but is yet to respond.
What a disgrace that residents have had to put up with this for “5 years” drug dealers are only able to deal their evil trade because the police and council are incompetent for reasons best known to themselves. Or maybe the police are allowing the money to build up before they kick the front door down and grab the dosh. The police know from informants who is selling what when and how so there is no excuse to allow this to continue. Shop a dealer and get them out of THANET.
The usual meaningless platitudes from the Thanet District Council “spokesperson”
What a waste of time that statement was. They should do an urgent assessment where serious crimes are alleged and the police should be raiding the place to call a halt to these anti-social behaviours.
5 years? Why is it allowed to go on for even 5 weeks?
The police are useless when it comes to drugs. It happens in St Lawrence between the main pubs and nothing is done about it by police, or the landlords of these establishments.
Have constant police presence outside of the main offender pubs, you kill off 80-90% of the problem.
It says to report any criminal activity to the Police, well a friend of mine has reported people at basement flat, 40, Addington Street, Margate, so many times, but just gets ignored.
Photos of carrier bags, full of cannabis leaves, going in and out. Seven extra large sport holdall bags, packed full of *******, each sprayed with lacquer, and sealed, taking two people to carry each bag.
Are Kent Police Farce interested?
Wow! I just saw a pig fly over.
How many other Thanet properties have to experience this nasty problem?
Very similar situation occured in St. Johns road margate, police tried but could do little more than disrupt the activities, TDC had every chance to shut the building down due to its blatant safety failings and poor condition but always said they had no resources to deal woth the situation, after over 5 years an attempted “fire bombing” eventually bought about some action, but in the meantime Paramount ( TDC’s contractor tasked with housing those in need still dump some very undesirable people in the area) now TDC want a homeless hostel next door to the problem building and are trying to force it through under very dubious terms. Good luck as you’ll need it. EKH / TDC will do nothing about drug use in their properties.
residents are fed up continually reporting to police and council the same crimes and nothing gets done, not even a reply in many cases. The police in Thanet along with the council do very little to help residents calling for help. This county lines drug dealing is breaking into all the local streets in a few areas of Thanet with very little done either. For a young man to be left to die at the hands of drug dealers cuckooing in his property and EKH not lifting a finger when warned so many times is in fact corporate manslaughter and they must be brought to book over that. Every life is precious and must be saved if possible. It seems that in Thanet at least the police commander needs removing and replaced by someone who can deal with the pressures of policing a good team. Slack and lazy policing is very common now and that needs to be changed. It might have something to do with the national funding from government but we deserve better than this.
So many hate crimes are going unresolved too. It really is a scandal.
The time has come for this story to blow up and expose the neglect of vulnerable tenants by TDC and EKH. TDC’s spokesperson’s response is at best pure fantasy, at worst a downright lie. TDC does NOTHING when issues are reported to them, they pass all the responsibility to EKH – who refuse to address issues relating to drug-taking and dealing in their properties. Some of the tenants in this particular property have been given housing after recovering from drug addictions, yet EKH do not include drug dealing as a breach of a tenants lease, they do not have CCTV installed in a property that has received constant reports of drug dealing, and they leave all monitoring of drug dealing to neighours. If you report a drug dealing incident online to EKH they say have a policy of replying within 10 days at best, in reality, they rarely answer at all. If you call EKH to report a drug deal they say, and I quote: ‘drug dealing is nothing to do with us’. They don’t actively liaise with the Police to check on drug-related reports on their tenants, they don’t even visit their tenants regularly to assess their recovery. Shame on you TDC and shame on you EKH, the death of the young man in this property is yours to own, despite constant reports, you neglected him and left him to die, his blood is on your hands. An external investigation is urgently required, till then EKH, we await your urgent comment.
There is obviously some serious failures here in Thanet, on behalf of the council, the police and the local councillor’s if all they do is respond with stock answers and how abhorrent it all is but actually just let these awful people continue to make the lives of those around them a living hell, a very heavy hand is what is needed, zero tolerance, get in there fast and hard but alas I believe those who can are just going to work and looking busy!
So basically you are saying that nothing is happening! What is Ramsgate town Council actually doing! Platitudes for law abiding citizens then nothing happens the situation remains extant. We need a council that actually dose something for the people of Ramsgate! The time and money wasted on stopping Manston was far more important why worry about the people of Ramsgate!
Well Jack, quite a lot as it happens. I am afraid we don’t have our own police force or fire service as in the early days of the old borough, but we do have technicians who go around picking up all the detritus of the drugs trade such as needles etc. We do practical things like turning Charlotte Court into a safe place with CCTV, that cost quite a lot of public money, Jack.
We sweep up, clean up, and try to improve the Town and not just in the Town Centre. If anyone wants to report an area which needs cleaning up or wants to set up a local voluntary group we can help.
You might not agree with one of our policies, but I think you should give credit where it is due.
I just cannot forgive the Town Council using our money for the appeal of Manston, I really don’t care too much which way that goes however; that was my Council tax which I had thought would be used to help some of these situations. When responsible for others money you cannot spend it on what appeals to the current council. I live alone and happily paid full Council tax thinking I was helping but no, what I did to help was sent to a law firm!!! to continue a fight decades old a bit like still sending troops over the top in first world war ( save it was OUR money). So now I have reduced my council tax to the minim I need to pay. Why alienate people who would happily volunteer to help. Why are so many crimes unpunished?
mr styles, the road to the car park off of belmont street, inbetween dove court and brunswick house never gets litter picked and the dirt and grit at the side of the road is deep enough to plant potatoes and when it rains the area resembles a duck pond, the water has been that deep it has been above the bottom of the car doors. can we have it cleaned at some point please.
Kent Police have zero interest in drugs instead of zero TOLERANCE!
I no longer bother to report dealing in the Surrey Road area as it seems such deadly crime is seen as a waste of police time when they want to concentrate their efforts on “hate” crime. Report a petty verbal spat and they will be out in force, report drug dealing and you get fobbed off.
I found a card reading skimming device on a cash point machine, I took it to the police. Two days later, I found another device, on the same machine, I again, took it to the police. But, the attitude I received was almost like; oh, not you again creating more work, and wasting our time.
Kent Police Farce, at its finest.