31
Aug
2017
By Calvin at 15:01 GMT, 8 years ago
I had a very pleasant email this morning from John; a follower of this website. He’s been messaging me about an ‘alleygating’ project he’s setting up with the neighbours. As my conversation with him is confidential I won’t say where he lives, but needless to say it’s a terraced house with a narrow back alley – ginnel, snicket, lane, entry etc....
John told me that there had been an attempt to put gates up at the entrances to the alley a few years back, but they couldn’t get enough interest. This time though, probably due to the fact that a couple of people have had break-ins from the alley, things are different and they’ve got the financial support of all the neighbours.
A couple of you reading this might remember that Alleygating was something I began back in the 1980s when I was the Crime Prevention Officer in Acton and Ealing. It was SOOO successful that I wrote a couple of guides about it to inform my colleagues around the UK.
Alleygating is an extremely cost-effective solution for preventing rear accessed burglary, but often there are other benefits too as the list below shows us.
- Fewer (and often a complete absence of) rear access burglaries
- Fewer thefts from the garden or shed
- Displacement of drug use and dealing in the alley, if this has been taking place
- Large reduction in littering, fly-tipping and arson that sometimes follows
- Better access due to reduced fly-tipping
- Fewer rats and vermin due to a cleaner more manageable alleyway
- Displacement of prostitution if this has been taking place
- Reduced fear of crime and fewer visits to the doctor for stress related illnesses
- Improved road safety as young children can’t run out of the alley into the road
- New space for the residents for hanging baskets, benches and communal activities
- A safer enclosed open space for children to play
- Improved neighbourliness and better knowledge of who lives along the alley
- Less dog fouling
Since that first scheme I worked on in Drayton Green in West Ealing at least 14,000 gates have gone up. Between them they must have prevented many tens of thousands of burglaries.
A simple idea really, but with an amazing result!
If this is something that interests you take a look at my page on the subject at the link below.
Alleygating – Terraced housing and back alleyways https://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/access-opportunity-and-alleyway-gating/489/alleygating-terraced-housing-and-back-alleyways/
