“We need our community to be more of a community”

The issue was recognised as councillors on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s Community Safety Board heard the details of a recent update to the authority’s anti-social behaviour strategy at its meeting last week.

The Comhairle’s Chief Social Worker, Mr Jack Libby, told the meeting that anti-social behaviour was a “complex, multifaceted issue, which requires a strong partnership approach to prevention, intervention, and enforcement where necessary”.

Mr Libby said that the new strategy aimed to ensure that “responsible behaviour in relation to fire safety and the use of alcohol and drugs,” was “promoted and improved.”

He added that the strategy would ensure that residents were aware of the services and support available and “hopefully that will instill some confidence in the community in terms of what it is we are doing.”

But a string of local councillors noted the impact on anti-social behaviour of a lack of youth clubs and activities, especially in the Stornoway area.

Harris councillor, Kenneth MacLeod said that he wanted to focus on the prevention side of the strategy saying that one of the most successful ways to address the issue of anti-social behaviour was through youth clubs, and young people “having somewhere to go on an evening and engage.”

Cllr MacLeod added: “We had The Acres, Point Boys and Girls Clubs – these things were going then. Young people were going in there. All types of young people were going in who were from probably disadvantaged backgrounds, and who we didn’t expect to do very well.

“But, because they were engaging with others and there was somewhere for them to go, and they could talk to people who were there building these relationships, they turned out a lot better than probably many folk expected them to do.”

Stornoway North Liberal Democrat councillor Malcolm MacDonald said that many of the former youth clubs were not active and said that he was a volunteer locally but that all the volunteers he worked with were over 60 years old, and said the local community “needs to go out and help and restart these things.”

Chief Inspector Jane MacKenzie commented: “We’ve spoken about areas like Stornoway, where there are services, and there are youth clubs, and the community development workers in Stornoway North and South do a phenomenal amount of work, and that needs to be acknowledged.

“But ultimately, we need our community to step up. It takes a community to raise a child. We all know it. We all see it. And that community that is up in arms in relation to youth antisocial behaviour needs to step up and help in raising the children that are part of their communities.”

Point councillor Norrie MacDonald said: “I fully endorse what’s been said. But, the fact is that we need our communities to be more of a community while we are systematically dealing with the underfunding of the pillars of these communities.

“We have these wish lists which maybe we can never reinstate because we have budgetary constraints. It’s horrific to see what’s happening as a result of that. Nobody’s fault. The police are under-resourced. Our Comhairle is under-resourced, and it’s the lack of volunteering that we’re finding.

“People operate in their own silos, and we’ve lost a little bit of that community. It’s drastically needed and the lack of it just permeates everything that’s happening.”