Council responds to residents' criticism about the housing of dangerous people following stabbing

A resident of Saddleback Road, Norley, criticised the local authority for putting dangerous people in the middle of communities with law-abiding families and that last month’s knifing was only the latest in a series of violent incidents in the neighbourhood.

Police and paramedics were called to an address in the street on the evening of Sunday September 24 and a man in his 40s was taken to hospital with what were described as minor injuries.

He has since been discharged. It is believed that he has not been co-operating with the police which has made it difficult for them to investigate further or make arrests.

But a neighbour who was one of the first on the scene said their sympathy lay not so much with the injured man as to her, family, friends and neighbours who were living in the midst of such violence.

They said they were sick and tired of such incidents and called on the council to be more careful about who is housed there.

They added:

“We as residents live in fear on this road and have done for over 12 months now due to who the council are choosing to reside in the flats.

"We are a family community and have all lived here for many years but we are being forced to look at selling our homes as we have daily occurrences of crimes like this.

"Last week an innocent resident was beaten and had three broken ribs by a known psychopath who has been living at a particular address nearby for two years and the local authority was unaware who was actually occupying the flat.

"It turned out he is a dangerous individual who shouldn’t have been housed among families.”

A Wigan Council spokesperson has now responded, saying: “While we are not able to comment on the individual circumstances, we can reassure residents that we work in partnership with Greater Manchester Police when managing our sensitive lettings to ensure that our tenants are placed in the right homes for them, and for the existing community.

“We will continue to work with the Police and other partners wherever required as this investigation is carried out.”