It's not fair (From Barry And District News)

It's not fair

I READ with the interest the feature in Barry and District News June 2, in which an unnamed resident of The Grove complains about the use of Romilly Park by young people on Friday and Saturday evenings.

I sometimes pick my son up at 10am-10.30pm after he's met with friends in the park. I've never seen 100 people there or anything near that number.

Similarly, neither of us have seen local residents being terrorised.

This is not to say that local residents have not experienced difficulties and I share the view expressed that anti-social behaviour of any kind needs to be dealt with effectively.

However, do the residents of The Grove think that theirs is the only Barry neighbourhood to be bothered by this kind of behaviour?

Wherever groups of people (adolescents or adults) gather there is a likelihood that a minority will make some kind of nuisance of themselves.

However, it is unfair and inaccurate to portray the majority of young people who gather at the park as doing anything other than merely enjoying the facilities in the way that they're intended.

Residents fortunate enough to live close to Romilly Park enjoy the privilege of living near one of the town's most attractive facilities.

However, that privilege does not extend to the right to determine who can use the park and under what circumstances.

It is a facility designed not only for the use of local residents but also for the use of all Barry citizens, young and old.

Am I the only reader who wonders why the council's 'ongoing initiative' focuses upon ways in which they can discourage young people from using the park rather than the development of other recreational areas to provide them with?

The headline 'Gang dread: People scared to go out' reflects the same lack of perspective that has seen my son and his friends refused entry to some of the town's major stores for no other reason that their being teenage boys.

On one occasion my son was refused entry to a store when going to shop for a mother's day present by a security guard who refused to even provide him with a reason.

Do we really wish to send our young people the message that being young and male is in itself some kind of crime?

All child psychology research concludes that consistent criticism is self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if you tell children and young people often enough that they are stupid or worthless they will come to believe it and will conform to it. I wonder what the residents of The Grove and other parts of Barry feel will be the likely consequences for their neighbourhoods of the constant reinforcement of social messages to young people that make them feel devalued, alienated, and criminalised.

Mark Lloyd-Selby

Tynewydd Road

Barry