Why should you have to put up with problem neighbours & tough estate life?
A theme that comes up time and again in Talk of the Town is the effect a minority have on the good people of our towns, particularly on some housing estates and they want - and deserve - the peace to be restored, don't you think?
Yes, so we are told, much is being done to change the image of places like Maes Gwyn, Flint; Caia Park & Plas Madoc, Wrexham; & the Rezo or Reservation, Rhyl. But the comments people are mailing in with show there are still problems.
Daryl has been in touch about Queen's Park, aka Caia Park, Wrexham: "Every week I can expect a smashed window, or my bin stolen and burnt. They have even stolen my collection of rare plants from my greenhouse and left offensive notes in their place."
A contributor from the US wrote in over night to endorse the sentiments in a poem contributed by Anthony, a pupil from Buckley's Ysgol Belmont special school, in which Anthony writes: "My streets are messy with broken glass, my streets are smelly with pollution in the air, my streets are rough everywhere."
And Siobhan felt compelled to comment about the Rezo: "I could have told anyone it wasn't the best place to move to but if it wasn't for our council moving crackheads in next door then we wouldn't have this problem."
But the housing problem is so grim in Rhyl that often people don't have much choice as there is a massive waiting list. This morning I listened again to a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Wales programme called You Can't Stay If You Don't Pay - Mondays, 6pm - which shows Rhyl's housing problem and bedsit culture. It's quite an eye opener and reveals the conditions people can find themselves in. [There's one story from a family who got into debt to buy a car and had it repossessed - along with their house]
There are no easy answers and quick solutions to tackle such problems - so where do we start?