Anger over hooligans at the gate

Ryan Hopkins bought his Kalamunda Road property, which is adjacent to a pedestrian access way that connects to Hulley Place, two years ago and has been plagued by anti-social behaviour ever since.

Troublemaking youths were such a headache for Mr Hopkins that he urged the Shire to close it down. However, the request was refused in October last year, despite 13 letters of support from nearby residents.

Mr Hopkins said the anti-social behaviour had flared up again in the past three weeks.

His fence was damaged and now needs to replaced.

He suspects the youths, who he believes are juveniles, were using the path to go to a nearby 24-hour fast food restaurant.

‘I find myself cleaning broken asbestos fencing that is kicked in by youths constantly; with now more than one third of the fence completely destroyed I have little to no security on my property,’ he said.

‘The whole fence is to be replaced next week at a cost of $5200 and then I suppose they can kick that in too.

‘It was my 70-year-old neighbour that confronted four young men when he heard them kicking it down last week; thankfully they ran away.

‘I have caught a group of youths kicking a football into my yard and I believe they are using it as an excuse to jump the fence to retrieve it but also check out the property for things to steal.

‘I was abused the other day when I found (youths) at the rear of my property; when they left, I saw them kick the ball into another yard.’

Mr Hopkins, who has subdivided his property to build another house, said the construction site was also a target.

‘The white set on the walls and doors inside were graffitied on three separate occasions in the past week, the bath was urinated in and a door handle broken where they tried to gain entry,’ he said.

He said he was at the end of his tether.

‘Police reports have been made and I requested a patrol car recently after finding a man trespassing and scoping out my shed yet still no sign of police,’ he said.

‘With no lighting, no security patrols and the council not allowing closures of alley ways, what is it going to take before they do something?’

There is set to be some reprieve for the frustrated resident, with funding allocated in the draft 2014-15 budget for lighting to deter anti-social behaviour.

Shire chief executive Rhonda Hardy said about $42,000 was included in the draft budget for lighting across the Shire, including Hulley Place.

‘Finalisation of the design will occur in August , and installation shortly after, subject to weather and supplier resources,’ she said.