80 syringes found in towerblock carpark (From Echo)

waste of time cleaning the carpark. it's the inside of the building that needs cleansing. compulsory drug tests for the residents. any positive results = forced eviction.

'DRUG addicts left 80 syringes lying on the floor of a tower block car park causing fears it has become a magnet for users.'
So what's the magic number of syringes that has to be found before these idiots at the Council finally arrive at the conclusion that druggies are using this building?

So now the problem has been identified a high police presence and Pcso patrol will result in offenders being arrested and if they are a resident then the council will evict them......Jackanory Jackanory

they're obviously migrating into there from their little dens in the bushes by the railway line on the Spains Hall Place estate due to this years inclement weather.

So, what exactly are the plans for Brooke House under the new £1 billion Town Centre regeneration scheme?

All the money and spit and polish on Basildon Town Centre isn't going to be worth a thing if the middle of the development is still populated by this asbo ridden crack den but the fact it's a listed building is going to make it very hard to do anything about it.

Best thing to do is strip it of it's listed status, on the grounds of public interest, then tear it down and evict the animals living there.

"compulsory drug tests for the residents" what planet are you on? It's not earth that's for sure! An entire building full of people ranging from teenagers to pensioners are not going to agree to be drug tested and what kind of nazi organisation would make them? Some people rent privately or own their property, the council has no say over those people. People campaign against DNA being kept from innocent people, let alone making an entire building wee in plastic cups on a regular basis because a small group of drug users cause a neusance, it's not for 100+ people to prove their innocence it's for the council to keep the place clean and stop scum from bothering the normal residents, you are a complete fantasist

Last week the Echo told residents told of the Grade II listed-building the flats had become a dump with drug users littering the stairwells and hallways and people even leaving human waste in public areas.

The Echo told them? Either The Echo has taken it upon itself to inform residents of their views on properties in Essex, the residents are blind, or that's a typo, and should say 'residents told the Echo'

Let's look at the form of this newspaper and website - and make a decision based on that... hmm....

Burn the place down, prefrably with all the crack heads inside it.

Burn the place down, prefrably with all the crack heads inside it.

SpiffSpaffington1984 wrote:
"compulsory drug tests for the residents" what planet are you on? It's not earth that's for sure! An entire building full of people ranging from teenagers to pensioners are not going to agree to be drug tested and what kind of nazi organisation would make them? Some people rent privately or own their property, the council has no say over those people. People campaign against DNA being kept from innocent people, let alone making an entire building wee in plastic cups on a regular basis because a small group of drug users cause a neusance, it's not for 100+ people to prove their innocence it's for the council to keep the place clean and stop scum from bothering the normal residents, you are a complete fantasist

what percentage of the block is owner occupier...1-2%? long odds against the owner occupiers being the druggies. the rest are being housed at your expense. frogmarch them down the excrement filled stairwells, hose them down and stick a needle in their arm if they don't provide a urine sample (shouldn't be too hard to find a puncture mark and a vein). simples!

1 or 2%? I'd say about 30-40% at the very least

are you a resident spiffspaff and if not where are your numbers from?

There's 86 flats, 1 or 2% is less than 1 flat. I don't live there myself but have known 6 people that have over the years and the floors they lived on were about half & half.

SpiffSpaffington1984 wrote:
There's 86 flats, 1 or 2% is less than 1 flat. I don't live there myself but have known 6 people that have over the years and the floors they lived on were about half & half.

fair enough. i give way and agree to raise the numbers. who has a problem giving a urine sample if they are clean? forget human rights - the roof over many of their heads is being paid for by the taxpayer.

asbo industries inc wrote:

SpiffSpaffington1984 wrote:
There's 86 flats, 1 or 2% is less than 1 flat. I don't live there myself but have known 6 people that have over the years and the floors they lived on were about half & half.

fair enough. i give way and agree to raise the numbers. who has a problem giving a urine sample if they are clean? forget human rights - the roof over many of their heads is being paid for by the taxpayer.

I don't really understand why you should say " the roof over many of their heads is being paid for by the taxpayer."

You accept that many own their flats within the building, I assume that those who don't are paying rent one way or another. How does that equate to the taxpayer paying?

ever heard of that thing called housing benefit?

asbo industries inc wrote:
ever heard of that thing called housing benefit?

Yes, but Housing Benefit is only paid to people who rent and then only to those who qualify after means-testing and the amount of benefit paid may not amount to the full rent (if my understanding of the benefit is correct). Do you think there are really that many claimants in Brooke House? Or was your original assertion possibly baseless?

a local authority towerblock in central basildon. what is your best estimate of the cost of a rental? means test...these people have nothing except drug habits and illegitimate children. do you not think the law abiders would move if they could? this is the 3rd brooke house horror story in less than a week, the second paragraph of this story describes frightened residents desperate to get out. it's not astro physics.

asbo industries inc wrote:
a local authority towerblock in central basildon. what is your best estimate of the cost of a rental? means test...these people have nothing except drug habits and illegitimate children. do you not think the law abiders would move if they could? this is the 3rd brooke house horror story in less than a week, the second paragraph of this story describes frightened residents desperate to get out. it's not astro physics.

For what it's worth I would guess that a one-bed flat leasehold would sell at the very bottom end of the market for such property- something around £60k and I doubt it would rent for much more than £450 p.m. I take your point that it is probably the least desirable of addresses in Basildon but I still doubt very much that the taxpayer is being burdened to the extent you have suggested.

I have no knowledge of astrophysics but you are right- it's not that.

one bed flat is 50k offered. bid is likely significantly less than 50k and going south every time one of these stories is printed. your rent estimate is i would think not out of the ball park. now back to your assertion that the amount of benefit may not amount to the full rent....

asbo industries inc wrote:
one bed flat is 50k offered. bid is likely significantly less than 50k and going south every time one of these stories is printed. your rent estimate is i would think not out of the ball park. now back to your assertion that the amount of benefit may not amount to the full rent....

Even if HB claimants had their full rent paid there are a large number of owner/occupiers who would not qualify. I would be plucking a figure out of the air if I were to estimate the number of claimants in Brooke House but I do believe that the impression you seem to seek to give, that large numbers are involved, is likely false.

I suppose, since neither of us have the figures, we may have to agree to disagree.

http://statistics.dw
p.gov.uk/asd/asd1/st
ats_summary/stats_su
mmary_aug12.pdf

here are the national numbers. needless to say they are large and growing. now overlay these numbers on a local authority tower block in basildon

page 17

page 17

asbo industries inc wrote:
http://statistics.dw

p.gov.uk/asd/asd1/st

ats_summary/stats_su

mmary_aug12.pdf

here are the national numbers. needless to say they are large and growing. now overlay these numbers on a local authority tower block in basildon

I think you know better than to suggest that such figures could be 'overlayed'. I am not a statistician but have a feeling that a statistician would refuse to make the sort of assumptions you are asking me to make.

overlaying is being conservative. we're talking about a ghetto in basildon but i see you prefer the rose tinted glasses.

As I remember, when the flats were built they were very much sought after. How times change !

muffindamule wrote:
As I remember, when the flats were built they were very much sought after. How times change !

They're still sought after. I think asbo's right about the £50k. Where will I ever get that sought of dosh? I suppose I could try renting one and get it paid on the HB. It might even make a decent grow room as long as the lifts aren't working as the police are probably too lazy or unfit to walk up the stairs. Top floor would be best then.

Druggie Scumbag wrote:

muffindamule wrote:
As I remember, when the flats were built they were very much sought after. How times change !

They're still sought after. I think asbo's right about the £50k. Where will I ever get that sought of dosh? I suppose I could try renting one and get it paid on the HB. It might even make a decent grow room as long as the lifts aren't working as the police are probably too lazy or unfit to walk up the stairs. Top floor would be best then.

maybe you could put a polytunnel on the roof?

I once lived in a flat in Brooke House (8years ago) and it is pretty easy to access the car park as a non resident, so it's probably not any of the residents syringes.
To be honest it wasn't too bad living there, it's a great central location and has amazing views. It's a shame as it has the potential to be a great building.

A building is a building - it's the occupants that appear to be the problem. Uproot this place and stick it in Mayfair and each flat would be 'worth' north of a million quid.

A proper presence and some determined action by Plod and the courts could solve this within a week, but then we know, that is never going to happen is it?

why not turn it into a hotel....

Eric Whim wrote:
why not turn it into a hotel....

Who in their right mind would want to even visit Basildon, let alone stay there?

If you believe half the comments posted here it's some sort of drug / criminal / lowlife centre

Rochford Rob wrote:

Eric Whim wrote:
why not turn it into a hotel....

Who in their right mind would want to even visit Basildon, let alone stay there?

If you believe half the comments posted here it's some sort of drug / criminal / lowlife centre

there are already severa hotels in Basidon and there seems to be plans for at least one more (by or on the golf course) and if I remember correctly the redevelopment/regene
ration plans for the town centre include a hotel.

Whether this is planned to go where the old ABC cinema is or somewhere else it looks like there's the capacity required.

I agree that in recent decades Brooke House has earned a less than salutory reputation for the 'quaity' of it's tenants but I'm sure there are decent, hardworking and honest people living there too.

I think that it wouldn't be too ludicrous to transform the buiding into a hotel in the process of regenerating the Town Centre. The residents can always be transferred to one of the many thousand new houses the Council are desperately nailing up and planning for the future and the problem of Brooke House degenerating into a vision of a dystopian J.G. Ballard style 'Hi-rise' would be solved

Eric Whim wrote:

Rochford Rob wrote:

Eric Whim wrote:
why not turn it into a hotel....

Who in their right mind would want to even visit Basildon, let alone stay there?

If you believe half the comments posted here it's some sort of drug / criminal / lowlife centre

there are already severa hotels in Basidon and there seems to be plans for at least one more (by or on the golf course) and if I remember correctly the redevelopment/regene

ration plans for the town centre include a hotel.

Whether this is planned to go where the old ABC cinema is or somewhere else it looks like there's the capacity required.

I agree that in recent decades Brooke House has earned a less than salutory reputation for the 'quaity' of it's tenants but I'm sure there are decent, hardworking and honest people living there too.

I think that it wouldn't be too ludicrous to transform the buiding into a hotel in the process of regenerating the Town Centre. The residents can always be transferred to one of the many thousand new houses the Council are desperately nailing up and planning for the future and the problem of Brooke House degenerating into a vision of a dystopian J.G. Ballard style 'Hi-rise' would be solved

you've hit the nail on the head. high rise local authority buildings in city centres are always a disaster. look no further than the multi storey trash on queensway for example. however it is prime city centre real estate. the tenants of these properties should be moved out of town into low rise accommodation and the law breakers, substance abusers weeded out.

The triangle thing across the road for the homeless has most of the private landlords on their books and fills it with ex offenders druggies and boozers for £500 plus amonth housing benefit. Who else would want to rent these flats. Having said that the whole block is camered up not sure about the car park but would expect it is.

he triangle thing across the road for the homeless

also known locally as The Temple Of Gloom