Broken bottles and needles needing to be cleared from school grounds daily in community hit by street drinking
A report into the impact of "problem drinking" in parts of Beeston are being discussed today at a council meeting
Broken bottles and drugs needles have to be cleared from a school grounds daily in a community hit by street drinking, a report has warned.
The impact of alcohol misuse in parts of Beeston is revealed in a study by Leeds City Council which could see licensing procedures tightened.
The Licensing Committee will meet at Leeds Civic Hall today (September 17).
It said the Beeston Hill and Dewsbury Road areas were among deprived communities in the city where alcohol sales had increased.
A school worker quoted in the report said evidence of alcohol and drug use was being found on a daily basis.
Staff and pupils at the Lady Pit Lane school regularly witnessed drunkenness from people who were often verbally abusive.
They said: “Every morning, our school grounds have to be checked by our caretaker to make them safe for our children to use during the day.
“Daily, dangerous objects such as broken alcohol bottles, injection needles, used condoms and beer cans can be found on our school field and yard.
“We have even found a large machete once. This was reported to the police.”
James Barrie is a Service Manager at Forward Leeds, an alcohol and drug recovery service in Leeds, he told us: "We know that for people in deprived areas, there's often a lot of issues that can contribute towards alcohol and drug use.
"There's things like, a lack of mental health support with cuts to mental health services over the last few years. So lots of people have mental health issues that they're not receiving support for.
He also said: "You can imagine if there's things like needle waste that can be quite distressing for people to see.
"We do have a harm reduction team within Forward Leeds who go out into the community, to provide advice and support. We also have workers whose role it is to try dispose of some of the waste as well."