Our once-thriving town is now a ghetto where sex is flogged openly from cars and yobs are fined £1K for pooing on street
EVERY evening after closing his high street dog grooming business in the West Midlands town of Lye, Gary Farmer begins his personal crusade clearing up rubbish.
Gary, who’s been trading in the town for 20 years, heads up a volunteer group who collect piles of garbage left outside shops, or gather up broken furniture, dirty clothing and rotting waste dumped in the alleyways off the high street.
On Sundays they share a similar rota, sweeping smashed beer bottles and the half-empty containers of fast-food discarded next to overflowing street bins.
It’s a sad state of affairs for a once-thriving Black Country town, which residents say has deteriorated over the past 10 years.
Last June, following complaints about anti-social behaviour in the high street and surrounding area, Dudley Council was forced to impose a three-year Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).
Its aim was to stop antisocial behaviour – including people “urinating and defecating” on the streets, drinking alcohol and using drugs, with £100 on-the-spot fines for anyone found breaching it.
Just a month after it was imposed, police were called to a fight involving 20 men.
When we visit a year on it’s hard to find anyone in the town who feels the PSPO has made a difference – while many fear for its future, seeing Lye as a neglected “ghetto”.
Piling up rubbish ready for the council to take away, Gary, 53, tells us: “I regularly put out over 1,000 bags of rubbish a month in my own bins from other businesses and privately-owned flats.
“Sadly, not much gets done ‘round here. The council’s been turning a blind eye for years.
“Why pay for proper street cleaning when they know me and volunteers will do it?”
On a Friday morning in the Clinic Drive car park at the back of the high street, pensioners John and Eve Evans are trying to see the funny side of watching a local sex worker talk business with a punter.
“We’ve just seen a young woman who was clearly discussing her rates with a bloke in a car,” retired dental nurse Eve, 79, tells us.
“It doesn’t exactly give out the best message at this time of day.”
John, 76, a retired accountant, adds: “We’ve been married for 50 years and have lived in the Black Country all our lives.
“Lye used to be a lovely town but sadly, it’s nothing like that now.
“Half the shops are shuttered up and there are only a couple of restaurants left.
“The council doesn’t seem to care about the town. People only come in if they need the opticians or the chemist.
“There’s not much to buy or do on the high street anymore.”
Shuttered shops
Stevie Rayne, 57, and her daughter Ellie Poule, 18, admit the only reason they venture into the town is to use one of two nail bars on the high street.
“Why would anyone come into Lye?” asks office administrator Stevie. “Unless you want to buy cheap beer at the European supermarket, or feel intimidated at the cashpoint by the Post Office, there’s no point.
“It’s disgusting to see how the council does nothing but let the unemployed and homeless wander around.”
Some residents cite the town’s Roma community as a problem within the town.
They claim these men and women – seemingly attracted by local factory and warehouse wages – live in overcrowded, privately-owned flats off the high street and congregate daily in the town centre.
It’s disgusting to see how the council does nothing but let the unemployed and homeless wander around.
Stevie Rayne, local resident
Locals say those who haven’t found work take it in turns to sit on the wall outside the local church, gather on steps and plastic chairs on waste ground at the back of their dilapidated flats, or play football on grassland adjoining the town’s car parks.
There are also reportedly issues with fly-tipping, and claims that homeless people often take to the streets in the early evening from nearby sheltered accommodation.
Tory Councillor Dave Borley, one of three Dudley councillors representing the Lye and neighbouring North Stourbridge ward, says a town action group with representatives from West Midlands Police, Dudley Council and the Roma community are looking at ways of integrating the migrant population.
“We are trying to find them a meeting place so they don’t have to hang around the streets,” he said.
Cllr Borley believes the PSPO has stemmed public order offences – but admits rubbish outside the flats puts people off coming into the town.
“Before the order was imposed, there were complaints about noise, drinking alcohol on the street and general mess but there’s not so much defecation and urination now,” he says.
“The problem we have with the Roma community is that they have a rotation of people coming in and out of overcrowded flats.
“They stay for three or four months to do seasonal work and then go back to Eastern Europe, then when another lot come in, they clear out the flats and just dump all the furniture outside.
“The council take it away but it’s a constant weekly issue.”
He adds: “You can’t blame people because they see Lye not as a no-go area, but not like the area they used to frequent… We are in a trough at the moment but looking to have a far more thriving local community being pushed by new residents.”
Before the order was imposed, there were complaints about noise, drinking alcohol on the street and general mess but there’s not so much defecation and urination now
Tory Councillor Dave Borley
Back on his ‘bin rounds’, Gary Farmer thinks plans by Dudley Council to regenerate Lye with West Midlands devolution funding – a phased scheme to build more housing and leisure facilities which is expected to be approved at the end of the year – are long overdue.
“The police do their best to patrol, but the Council’s too scared of the race card to stand up to anyone,” he says.
“I get on well with the Roma community because I’m not scared to tell them they need to respect the town and the area outside the church.
“If they see me coming now, they hide their beer bottles under their coats.
“We get problems with people coming out and drinking from a halfway house at the top of the street – and when homeless people get moved on from Stourbridge, the next town from us, Lye is the next best place to come to.
“There are still a few of us who have pride in Lye and are determined to keep encouraging shoppers and diners to visit.”
‘Lack of investment’
Adil Zulfiqar, 34, owns Robert Hill opticians on the High Street and says he understands the negative perception surrounding the town – adding that the pandemic has hit businesses hard.
“I don’t think public order is an issue in the town,” he says. “It’s more about the lack of interest and investment from the council and the fact that high street footfall has dropped nationally, particularly since Covid.
“I’m lucky to run a business that people need so they come into town despite its reputation.
“The one thing that concerns me about the regeneration plans is the potential loss of our free car parking if they build housing at the back of the high street.
I don’t think public order is an issue in the town. It’s more about the lack of interest and investment from the council
Adil Zulfiqar
“I’m not sure the public order implementation has made a difference.”
According to recent crime data in and within a mile of Lye’s high street, the number of anti-social behaviour offences occurring over the last two years appear on track to have dropped by roughly a third.
Between June 2021/22, there were 1,314 recorded crimes including 113 anti-social behaviour offences compared to a total of 968 – including 60 anti-social behaviour crimes – in the same 2022/23 period up to this April.
West Midlands Police could not provide specific data but some traders and residents believe a sign initially put up in Romanian to highlight the risk of fines has made it more peaceful.
‘Unfair’
The Rev Simon Falshaw says negative publicity surrounding the public order is unfair.
He has been the vicar at Christ Church on the high street for 23 years and has gone out of his way to welcome the Roma community – even teaching himself the Romanian language.
“The negativity is about perception rather than anything based on fact,” he says.
“People have perhaps seen them, been afraid and decided not to come here.
“There’s a low level of anti-social behaviour now, rather than problems with drugs and alcohol.”
Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, told The Sun: “The PSPO has been in place in Lye since July 2021 and has overwhelming local support, with 98 per cent of residents in favour of the order.
“The order is in place for three years and we will evaluate its effectiveness and consider an extension at the end of this time.
“We will also shortly be implementing a service to support with monitoring and enforcement of PSPOs across the borough to further help residents and visitors to feel safe and welcome in their communities.”