You couldn't design area any better for criminals

I refer to the article "Mum blames Bristol housing estate for assault," ( Post , June 25) regarding the assault problem at Siston Hill.

The comments made by the South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) spokeswoman that, "There are several pedestrian routes into the estate, which would not require access via the cycle path" is totally incorrect !

There are only two points of access for pedestrians that do not either cross the cycle path or require a pedestrian to walk along it and these clearly are Carson's Road and Siston Close.

All other points of access, will always require that pedestrians either walk on or across the cycle path and, looking at the latest map, it clearly shows that all points of access have the dotted line of the cycle path completely surrounding the estate.

This inaccuracy by the SGC spokeswoman certainly needs to be corrected as it appears to play down the severity of the incident, which the unfortunate victim of the assault, Bradley Hudd, had to encounter.

We have lived here for almost two years, so perhaps the SGC spokeswoman could come over and point these out to us !

SGC, as you correctly stated, eventually allowed planning permission, even though there were objections, especially by the police.

The police admit that they cannot catch many of the perpetrators as police vehicles cannot follow onto the cycle path.

This design of the area provides ideal opportunities for assaults, muggings and other criminal activity, where perpetrators can enter and exit very quickly and get away along the cycle path in many directions. Criminals couldn't have designed it better.

Residents who have lived here for some considerable time are fully aware of problems in the area and this can be borne out from the police involvement, combined with issues currently being addressed by the South Gloucestershire Safer and Stronger Community Group.

A short walk around the area shows the 'Access' to Siston Close, which was referred to by SGC as accessible, is permanently blocked by two solid concrete filled containers and a fork lift would be required to move them if an emergency vehicle had to get through.

Therefore, Carson's Road, is the ONLY road available to any emergency vehicle at any time to access our estate and cover all the properties, which must house many hundreds of people and more will be moving in.

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