Family's nightmare over noise and drug use

Aimee Richards says her toddler screams and shakes due to anti-social behaviour near their home

A woman has described how her toddler son screams and shakes because of anti-social behaviour near their Swansea home.

Aimee Richards, 22, said the area around her council flat in Weig Gardens, Gendros, is blighted by drug use and she has been threatened.

The family has been on the housing transfer list for more than a year, she said, and South Wales Police has written a letter to Swansea council advising them to consider moving them “as a priority”.

The council said it was supporting the family and that Ms Richards is registered for a move.

Aimee Richards said her partner has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and one of her children screams and shakes at night

Ms Richards, who has a two-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter, was heavily pregnant when she moved to the third-floor flat with her partner Rhys Davey nearly three years ago.

But she said she has found drug needles in the block and that urine and sometimes excrement were left in communal areas. Although the council swept the areas, she said she cleaned them with bleach on a weekly basis.

“I don’t want my son accidentally putting his hand in pee,” she said.

As well as the anti-social behaviour, it has been a struggle taking her children up and down 42 stairs with shopping on her own when her partner is at work and she has back pain, she said.

“I can no longer cope – my patience has gone now, it really has,” she said. “I just want a happy, quiet life.”

Police support

The letter from South Wales Police, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, said it was aware of 10 reports of serious issues in the vicinity of Ms Richards’ home in the last two years.

It said there was an increasing risk of the children witnessing problem behaviour and that the family needed a three-bedroom home in Swansea as a priority.

Swansea council said: “We take complaints about anti-social behaviour very seriously and our officers from the community liaison team, along with our neighbourhood support unit and local housing office, are continuing to support Ms Richards and her family.

“We also work closely with police in order for them to take action against criminal activity within our communities.

“The family are registered for a transfer to a larger property and points have been awarded to reflect their circumstances.”