Survey of Rotherham life reveals worries about yob culture

ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour has become a major problem in Rotherham as parents let their kids run amok, according to a new survey.

A bleak picture of life in a yob-plagued borough is painted by the results of the Place Survey, which has also left police and borough council bosses nursing bloody noses.

But on the plus side, 74 per cent of people were happy with Rotherham as a place to live (national average: 80 per cent) and 62 per cent felt a sense of belonging—three per cent above the national rate.

Nevertheless, the questionnaire revealed serious worries about crime and teenage nuisance, with more than a quarter of people saying that it was a problem and four out of five believing parents did not care about keeping their kids in line.

And Rotherham Borough Council faces an uphill struggle to get the public onside after the survey also found that just 36 per cent of people felt that they were doing a good job and only a quarter believed they could influence local decisions.

Details of the public's perception of the level of anti-social behaviour and a lack of parental responsibility emerged just a week after the Advertiser reported how yobs had driven Meadowbank dad Stuart Symonds to despair.

Our story provoked a powerful response from readers who felt that their lives were being blighted by yob culture and prompted Tory councillor Tony Mannion to demand that the Government use the law to force parents to keep their kids in line.

Meanwhile, the survey found that just 25 per cent of Rotherham folk thought the borough council offered good value for money—well below the national average—and only 46 per cent were happy with the job done by the police.

Rotherham folk were less likely to feel that people from different backgrounds got on well together, with the borough's score of 62 per cent lagging 14 per cent behind the England average.

But the survey found that four of out five elderly people were happy with where they lived and the proportion of those feeling that people did not treat each other with consideration fell to 42 per cent.

Council leader Roger Stone said: "The views of our residents are very important to us and we take them very seriously.

"We have discussed the findings at the most senior levels and we're working with our partners to determine where we need to take action together and as individual organisations.

"However, it is some 12 months since the survey was conducted, and there are areas where action has already been taken.

"We believe that these actions would be reflected in more positive results if a further survey were to be carried out now."

Chief Insp Caroline Rollitt said that she believed most people were satisfied with the police.

She added: "We feel satisfaction rates are much higher than that given in this survey but we're not complacent as there are times people are not happy with the work we do.

"We also do a lot of work on reducing fear of crime."