Aberystwyth residents are “angry” after being shunned by local authorities at a meeting addressing anti-social behaviour in an area of the town.

Thirty-nine local residents attended public meeting, on Friday, 11 March, to “apply pressure” on authorities to tackle anti-social behaviour in Aberystwyth.

But despite Dyfed Powys Police, Ceredigion County Council, and various housing authorities being invited to the meeting, only Ceredigion MP Ben Lake was in attendance.

Councillor Kerry Ferguson, who organised the meeting alongside Cllr Endaf Edwards, said the lack of engagement is “not good enough”.

A High Street resident, who did not want to be named, added: “People were angry that they were being taken lightly. Its a genuine safety concern.

“People might think it’s just a bunch of old people complaining about noisy young people, but the meeting was filled with 39 residents, and they were all very passionate – there was tears, shouting, it’s really affected them.”

Ceredigion MP Ben Lake said the meeting demonstrated “that a concerted effort is required from every tier of government to truly tackle the situation”.

“It’s the Wild West”, Aberystwyth residents express their fear about antisocial behaviour in the town.

While Councillor Kerry Ferguson, who organised the meeting, said the meeting went really well, she and the residents in attendance were “disappointed” that none of the relevant authorities, except Ceredigion MP Ben Lake, joined.

Cllr Ferguson said she and residents “were not happy with the reply”, received prior to the meeting, from Dyfed Powys Police on “behalf of the ‘multi agency group’”.

Laurence Akerman, who has lived on South Road for 21 years, said these are the third set of public meetings since the anti social behaviour started around 15 to 20 years ago.

“It looks lovely in the day, but come back here at night,” Laurence said, “there have been three raids in the last week.

“The people to blame are the council, Assembly Members, Ben Lake MP, the council, the Police and Crime Commissioner, and rogue landlords and builders, they’re all culpable. Why is nobody bothered? Why do you want to turn this place into smack city? There’s a crack house next door, it’s the Wild West.

“I don’t blame the police, they’re just chasing their tales. It’s the Police and Crime Commissioner.”

Laurence said they witness police on the road several times a week, adding that he and his daughter watched a stabbing in June 2021. The family also welcomed a young girl into their home after a man attempted to break into her house. Laurence also spoke of a major drug issue in the area, with a South Road man being discovered with a kilogram of heroin in May 2021 and 400g of heroin being seized at another resident’s property in August 2020.

Laurence, who has experienced four attempted burglaries on his own home, said he believes most of the issues come from HMOs and private houses being turned into flats: “What I would like them to do is look at the houses being converted from HMOs and private properties into flats. Reverse them back to HMOs to stop the intensification of buildings, we don’t mind students. We do mind flats because people from the prison service or social service are being taken in. They’re not local, they’re from Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham.”

A High Street resident, who did not want to be named, said her husband feared her going out alone: “You can understand what the houses are trying to do, trying to rehabilitate people and give them a standing chance – particularly in the Albion.

“But they’re not young people from the area, they’ve been ripped out of the cities they come from, there’s no social support – not friends or family – all they’ve got is the people they live, which might not be the best people are this time.

“Nobody opposes the rehabilitation, but they’re not being rehabilitated.”