I’ve been working on the consultation with residents in Rudheath and Witton of late.

We’re asking how we can join forces to improve the area or bolster existing good services and facilities.

At the Weavervale Housing Trust ‘plant out’ in Danefields, I chatted to residents about the Dane Valley Community Orchard and theatre and the initiatives we’re working on to improve the local environment.

I enjoyed hearing people’s views and was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm for community spirit.

I think times may well be changing.

We also consulted at the carboot sale we organised in aid of the train station gardens. Due to poor advertising and rain, not many pitches but in terms of community engagement it was a worthwhile event.

I’m heartened by all of you out there who want our neighbourhoods to be neighbourhoods again and not just places to live.

Of course there’s still a few negative people who bend my ear about how the useless unemployed are to blame for society’s ills.

All I can say is, myself included, many of us out here work very hard for society without pay.

Other attitudes include claiming all teens are ‘bad’. Again twaddle – a small minority commit anti-social behaviour or petty crime but these are the kids from homes where the dogs get treated better than they do. These are the kids who are continuously labelled ‘bad’ so end up believing it. I’ve yet to meet any kid that, deep down, didn’t just want to be loved and accepted.

The majority of young people are decent. They just have nowhere to go without being accused or shifted on. They themselves are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrate them.

Ask the police.

What’s wrong with us that all we want is to punish and penalise the young? I believe in restorative justice where necessary, I believe in teaching and helping young people to find their self esteem and their own self worth so that those who are trouble see a new way of life for themselves, and those who were loved as children continue to get the most out of life too.

I’m proud of our kids in Northwich, we have a good bunch on the whole.

True, there are some who annoy, who intimidate, or who commit vandalism or violence against people and property. When you read about them, remember once they were lovely babies – something happened to them for them to fill their souls with spite and nonchalance.

A wise dude once said: Love thy Enemy – simply because love heals, hate divides. Perhaps, the enemy here is not teenagers – it’s a lack of compassion on all sides.

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