Bristol's Turbo Island causing chaos for local people

Benoit Bennett said Turbo Island had always been an "area of chaos" but a new group was being intimidating

People living near a plot of land in Bristol's Stokes Croft say more needs to be done to tackle rising antisocial behaviour there.

One restaurant next to Turbo Island shut down earlier this month, citing the location as one of the reasons.

Benoit Bennett, from the People's Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC), said a new group of "very, very aggro" people had starting hanging out in the area.

Landowner Wildstone said it hoped paving the land would help issues.

Charlie James, who owned Jamaica Street Stores in Stokes Croft, said a staff member had recently received a death threat in one of a chain of events linked to Turbo Island.

"The neglect of our little corner of Bristol and the undeniable 'turning a blind eye' approach to crime and disorder is having a negative effect on small local businesses and the community as whole," he said.

"In the years that I've been there, the situation is getting increasingly worse."

Police encouraged the public to continue reporting incidents linked to Turbo Island to build evidence for "enforcement action"

Wildstone, which owns the land and the advertising billboard that hangs over the land, agreed the area had become a "focus for antisocial behaviour".

It said following discussions with Bristol City Council, it planned to pave the area.

"We are also working with the council to address issues with vermin caused by bins in and around the site," said chief operating officer, Philip Allard.

'Difficult problem'

Mr Bennett, who works closely with local street drinkers, said a new group of people were "very, very aggro" and "often dealing [drugs] quite loudly".

He said regular fighting had forced a local shop to move its premises away from the site.

"It's a very difficult problem to know how to solve.

"Part of the reason that people hang out on Turbo Island is because they were successfully pushed out of the Bear Pit [an open space beneath St James Barton Roundabout]," he added.

Mr Allard said Wildstone would fund the works on Turbo Island, which it hopes to have agreed within a few weeks

Acting Neighbourhood Sergeant Steven James, from Avon and Somerset Police, said officers had noted an increase in reported incidents of "street drinking, drug use, camp fires and public order offences" as the country came out of lockdown.

He said the force was continuing daily uniformed patrols while the council and landowner found "a resolution".

"We are also engaging with members of the street community who gather in the area and encouraging them to accept the support that's available," he added.

Mr Allard said the antisocial behaviour issues were symptomatic of wider problems and said it would require a "multi-agency approach to address the wider social issues".

"There are definitely huge amounts of people who really value the wildness of Turbo Island and a bit of freedom that it feels in the middle of the city," said Mr Bennett.

"I talk to people all the time who have come specifically to hang out there.

"I think it's really important to be compassionate and remember that a lot of the people that you see there might have really, really hard lives," he added.