Call for action on Portishead boy racers

johnny2009, just as the youngsters have given up on expecting to be provided for, those of us who are not so young have also given up on making our views known as these views have fallen on deaf ears for many years and will continue to do so whilst young people are not represented enough within the community. The projected and very necessary Youth Club expansion always seems to be delayed, the skatepark forever pushed to the sidelines by council apathy, a youth shelter that was first asked for and suggested by a local policewoman after much research amongst the youngsters over ten years ago failed to materialise and there isn't a single establishment to cater for the 'boy racer' age group. Too young for pubs, too old for youth centres.
This is the very age group now that has been denied adequate facilities at the age they needed them and tomorrows boy racers will be those af an age group currently not being catered for once more.
Unfortunately we have a council voted in by party political loyalty rather than councillors who represent the full spectrum and age ranges of our community and until people take off their political blinkers things will never change and Portishead will become an old peoples town and along with that comes a large percentage of older people who will find problems with the youth of the town even when there are none.
Sadly the influx of older people to our town will add further support to voting in aging councillors set in their ways and not diverse or open minded to realise that the time to nurture young people is at the age when they are most susceptable to it.
Is a skatepark really too much to ask for? There are three bowling greens in the town yet one small skatepark too far from the centre of town and lacking proper facilities, there is a huge expanse of land at the Lake grounds which when a new bowling green was asked for meant a large swathe of green hillside was butchered to accomodate it. That action alone indicated which way this towns council will always jump.

we get alot of them along newfoundland way and the biggest problem seems to in the empty office just off newfoundland way but the police seem to not want to know

Gouldmark2. You make some very interesting points about facilities for youngsters (although something that always surprises me about today's kids is their sense of automatic entitlement to 'respect'!). But anyway, you seem to have some insight into the things that bother young people here: is there no way you/they have of making these views known? If you think that the needs of our young people are being forgotten by the council and older members of the town, speak out. Individual voices and requests might be ignored, so organise yourselves into a proper group and get involved. Make your voice heard as well. You might find that the community police team are a good place to start; they will be interested in hearing your ideas if there's a chance it will impact on local crime levels and community relations.

And what a great awakening for local councillors and all those who have totally ignored appeals by youngsters for the past ten years for more facilities. Todays boy racers are yesterdays ignored youth of the town whose simple requests for youth shelters and skateboard parks always fall on deaf ears whilst facilities for older people have money thrown at them.
I don't condone speeding in residential areas one bit but how on earth do people in Portishead expect to get any respect from youngsters when known has been shown to them in the past?
It must be really heartening for todays up and coming teenagers to hear once more that the skatepark is still not happenning because ;ocal councillors are already hijacking the proposed area for the skatepark by a bandstand. Another premediatated move by an aging council totally out of touch with young people and not prepared to even deal with their needs because it's easier to punish them when they are older with threats of Police action and the law.
You get what you breed in this town and the council and many older members of the town should hang their heads in shame, but they won't because they have no concept of anything outside of their own small and stifled worlds.

Our new community police officer has got his work cut out for him! How do you go about cracking down on these boy racers?  You'd be lucky to get the reg number in the dark and at the speeds they're going at! And if you do get it, then what?  Do the police have  a hunt around and hope they can catch up with the lad?