I have lived in the north end of Great Yarmouth for decades, and wouldn’t change for anyone. I have seen some lovely people come and seen some lovely people go. However, the things around Newtown are fading, nothing new gets added and things just seem to get taken away.

Where do I start. The Iron Duke, what a lovely place that was but have you seen it lately, I mean what an eyesore, it’s been like that for years... if it was anywhere else it would have gone by now. With some power the council could fix it or lose it.

From there we can go to the scouts hut, once many a kid had a great time in there but now it to is boarded up and has been for a few years.

How about the Marina Keys; I remember attending a party in there a few years ago, but like the others that too is now boarded up. I even became involved in the Marina Keys with Fr33 Style to transform it into a community place.

We had backing from Mott Mcdonald and Norfolk County Council but no, the powers that be would sooner it stayed as it is - another eyesore in Newtown.

That doesn’t leave a lot for the kids, youth and young people of Newtown but alas they had the shelters on the seafront, not much but something.

These shelters might have been the place where the kids got together but it was out of the way and after all they too needed somewhere to go.

These kids didn’t have the Pleasure Beach, amusements and other attractions on the doorstep, they had a shelter - but it was knocked down.

The only thing left is the new community centre that is trying to change things slowly and working with the council to get something back on track.

You could have thought it ended there but no. Not happy with just making sure there was nothing to do in Newtown they pushed hard to make people feel inferior. I thought it was just me until I started talking to others and listening to what they had to say.

This residential parking permit thing that’s meant to be there for, I guess the residents, is not really. The town’s attractions are not on our doorstep so we have to walk if we can, or drive if we can’t.

When you get to the town centre there are loads of places to park but wait, we find a parking bay and pay through the nose.

I remember going to eat near Trafalgar Road, pulling my car into the parking bay and noticing it was a residents only, so off I went to find somewhere else to park. From the restaurant I saw a coach pull up and I saw someone from the restaurant go out and gave the driver a permit. They didn’t even live in Great Yarmouth!

Guest houses buy them for their guests as does everyone else who has a business down there.

You should see the parking in Newtown on race days. I heard that was the reason we didn’t have residents parking permits.

All the way down the seafront you have to pay to park - until you get to Newtown and you can park there for free, Salisbury Road to Seashore, well you know it’s the bad end.

Now they have added lights to the lamp-posts down the seafront - until you get to Salisbury Road and they don’t go into Newtown either.

Bet you guessed it: No CCTV. It’s only Newtown.

We don’t have any zebra crossing for our kids, we don’t have 20mph zones to slow cars down for the safety of our kids. Yet when Caister Road is blocked Newtown gets all the traffic and Caister Road is one of the busiest roads in Norfolk, but no, it’s only Newtown.

It’s wrong to make people feel like that. You can’t do it in school, you can’t do it in work, so why is it okay to do it in communities.

The people here are great and they don’t deserve to feel like they are not part of Great Yarmouth. It’s our home, it’s the place our kids grow up, so for them at least sort it out, like you do for other kids from other areas. Give them a safe crossing for school, somewhere to play and remove these eyesores.

DARREN WHEELER

Fr33 Style General Manager