Mayfield project identifies issues but shows improvements are being made
The results of a 12 week project funded by the Big Lottery and designed to look into the issues that affect residents and young people in Mayfield have shown signs of a marked improvement in relations between the two groups.
One in five tenants of Melville’s walk-up flats (those with a common stair) spoken to by researchers from Mayfield-based youth group Y2K said they have experienced problems with young people in the local area, a big improvement on feedback from a major tenant survey conducted in 2008 in which one in three of our tenants said they had suffered due to the behaviour of noisy and disruptive youths.
Researchers, who spoke in detail to over 60 residents and 40 young people as part of the ‘Living in Harmony’ project, also found that almost one in three walk-up flat tenants now get on well with their neighbours, compared with one in five who don’t.
Christmas events were a great success
“These findings are both interesting and encouraging, and give us an excellent starting point for future work,” said Melville’s Pat Aitken. “They show that there are problems in some areas but that in others tenants get on well with their neighbours and with young people. We will now use the results to draw up a detailed plan for addressing these problems in the areas where they are most apparent.”
The research findings, which are the result of a number of face-to-face interviews, also showed that more than half of the youths interviewed (53%) had been involved in some form of incident with the police. In the vast majority of these cases (92%), however, the incidents did not involve local residents. Drinking in the street and minor vandalism were the most commonly reported issues.
The project finished on a high note with residents and young people involved in a series of Christmas events in December, designed to bring young people and the local community together. A present wrapping day and the switching on of Mayfield’s Christmas lights were followed by the hosting of Santa’s Grotto at Mayfield Leisure Centre, made possible thanks to the efforts of young people from Y2K. 172 local children visited the Grotto over three Saturdays in the run-up to Christmas.
“These community events before Christmas were a great success and a very positive note on which to end the project,” said Pat. “It was fantastic to see so many young people, and young men in particular, working together to provide a wonderful present to so many local children. Great credit must go to Y2K for organising the events and for encouraging such a fantastic turn-out.”
Related Websites:
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
www.youth2000project.com
