5 July (Part 1) - Beyond belief
Abbey Wood has always had a problem with vandalism. I don’t think it is
as bad as it used to be. It’s a very long time since I last had a Molotov
Cocktail thrown at my house but if you speak to the traders in Wilton Road you
will be assured that there is still a problem.
A shop window was smashed in the
early hours of the morning quite recently.
I wonder at the sanity of the railway personnel who designed and the Council
officers who subsequently approved the Crossrail station’s four lifts. They will
be part of the Public Realm, open for cross railway pedestrian traffic 24 hours
a day. I fear they will be vandalised before Christmas.
Last night I had a word with my Councillor Danny Hackett about the Lesnes Abbey
regeneration project to see
if he knew any more about it than I or my
correspondent did. However he hasn’t been able to get a straight answer either
and has no news of any formal opening day. What he did tell me was however deeply shocking.
He
said that the pond viewing platform had been vandalised.
I nipped down there (barely two minutes from home) at dawn this morning
unprepared for what I saw. This isn’t just vandalism; it is systematic wrecking
of the new amenity, reminiscent of
the mindless arson attack two years ago.
How could anyone do such a thing?
I am informed that the attack took place last Sunday. Lesnes Abbey is
frequently the source of teenage noise on summer evenings, the shrieking of young
girls piercing the night air. The last such gathering only a couple of days ago went on for three hours
until the police eventually dispersed them.
It is a commonplace which local residents have learned to ignore.