Another one bites the dust
Dealer forced out of Nightingale Avenue drug den
The tenant of 31 Nightingale Avenue, a base for heroin
dealing for the last few years, has finally been evicted by the landlord,
Cherwell Housing Trust.
This comes as a huge relief to neighbours who have been
forced to endure the unsavoury activities of both the dealers and their
customers for far too long
The part of Nightingale Avenue bordering the barn was
identified as a problem area by residents at the IWCA public meeting in June.
Heroin dealing being carried out from two properties in this area, one of which
was number 31, was also highlighted in the last issue of Leys Independent
in response to the large number of complaints received.
IWCA councillor Stuart Craft said in response to the news,
‘One of the measures decided on at our public meeting was to put pressure on the
housing authorities to evict tenants who are dealing class-A drugs and therefore
in breach of their tenancy agreements. I’m glad to say that in this case we
have been successful.’
The recent eviction indicates that the housing associations
are now more willing to take steps against dealers operating from their
premises. Phil Hardy of Oxford Citizens Housing Association assured the IWCA
that ‘housing association tenants will lose their homes if they or anybody
visiting their home is found guilty of drug related offences on the
property.’
For a long time the New Labour councillors for Blackbird Leys
have tried to pretend that the drug problem doesn’t exist, while the police are
widely believed to have been operating a policy of containment on the estate.
Now the authorities are having to accept the fact that the people of this area
will not sit back and allow themselves to be treated as second class
citizens.
However, there is still a long way to go. The recent raids
that resulted in the eviction from 31 Nightingale Avenue, along with the planned
redesigning of Gillians Park and the government money now earmarked for
anti-drug measures, only came about in response to the pressure applied by
residents in conjunction with the IWCA.
‘If residents let up the pressure’, warned Stuart Craft, ‘the
authorities will be only too happy to go back to their original policy of doing
nothing. If we want to see real progress on tackling the heroin and crack
problem then the community must be involved, and the community must call the
shots.’
Leys Independent, issue 16, December 2002
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