Our Story …

The Lenton Drives and Neighbours Residents’ Association was formed in the summer of 2016 when a group of local residents came together because they were fed up with unsocial noise, anti-social behaviour and mess in the area. The area we cover is situated around Derby Road, a main artery into Nottingham and between the University of Nottingham, the Queens Medical Centre and the City Centre. Many people living in the Lenton area were angry and frustrated about regular sleep disruption. They were upset about the state of the streets with litter, refuse in front gardens, low-level vandalism and destruction of property. Local school children were struggling to concentrate at school as they were being regularly woken up at night. The corrosive affect of constant sleep-deprivation and frustration was leading to stress and anxiety in families. We decided something had to be done.

Sadly, much of this upset is caused by young people living in our area, where there is a high concentration of Houses in Multiple Occupancy. We know that not all behave in a way that upsets their neighbours; many of us have good relationships with our young neighbours. However, some young people do not seem to understand the impact that late night house parties, lager cans and wine bottles dropped on the street, shouting and shrieking in the streets at night and pushing over sapling trees or stealing garden plants have on a residential community.

We are a community of many different people: families, singles, old and young, students, working, retired and school children. We are like any residential community in Britain, and seek only the simple ability to live in peace in our community, harmony with our neighbours, and to be able to enjoy the environment of the streets around us.

What have we done so far?

Over the 2016 academic year, we have worked hard on our relationships with a number of agencies which affect these issues:

• Nottingham City Council through the various departments dealing with noise, Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) licensing, cleansing, planning and litter collection.
• The local Community Protection Team
• Nottinghamshire Police
• The two universities in Nottingham:  The University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University
• The Students Unions at both Universities
• East Midlands Property Association (representing landlords who rent their HMO properties to students)
• Our local MP

We have sought to work collaboratively with all these different organisations as we feel that the best solutions will come through joint ideas and trying to move forward cohesively. We have also tried to raise awareness that our neighbourhood is a residential area where many people live, and where noise and anti-social behaviour can impact the lives of other people adversely.

We look forward to seeing how the picture improves over the next few months and years.