South Wales Police

Mayhill: Panel members keen to hear residents’ views on disturbance

Published

2 years ago

15th September 2021

Editor

On Monday local residents in Mayhill and Waun Wen will have their first chance to speak to members of an independent joint review panel looking at a disturbance in the community earlier this year.

It is being chaired by a QC, Prof Elwen Evans, alongside vice-chairs police expert Martin Jones and local government expert Jack Straw.

All three will be at Mayhill Community Centre between 10am and 2pm and between 3pm and 7pm on Monday to listen to the thoughts and views of residents on events leading up to and following May 20.

Attendance is by appointment. Residents can book these by emailing community.action@swansea.gov.uk or by phoning either 01792 635412 or 07796 275137. Anyone who would like to speak to a member of panel but who cannot attend on the day can register for future arrangements to be made.

Also during the same times there will be familiar faces to local residents who live and work in Mayhill and Waun Wen providing services to the community, who residents can talk to or find out about local services.

Council leader Rob Stewart said: “The unlawful disturbances we saw were shocking. They were the actions of yobs and criminals and were in no way a true reflection of the wonderful communities of Mayhill and Waun Wen – or of the majority of the people of Swansea.

“We took immediate action to support residents after the disturbances and we are still working side-by-side with families, young people, local councillors and community leaders in the recovery.

“However, it’s essential that we take the opportunity to answer the questions the community have asked and learn more about the background to this incident, what happened on the night and the immediate aftermath.

“Events like those we witnessed in Mayhill and Waun Wen are thankfully extremely rare and the independent review offers us an opportunity to learn lessons to further prevent incidents across Wales in the future.

“Working with the community it will assist us in developing long-term plans to continue to support the area in recovering from what happened.”

In an online statement, Swansea Council said: “Incidents like May’s disturbance are exceptionally rare in Swansea and residents, community leaders and the authorities came together to provide assistance to the close-knit community and provide a range of immediate support to those affected.

“The aim of the independent joint learning review is to find out more about the background to the disturbance and to learn lessons for the future.”

A youth panel was recently held in Mayhill for young people and their thoughts are also being fed back.

The review is supported by the Welsh Government, which says it welcomes the local leadership shown by the Swansea Council and South Wales Police.