Chaos At Kingsway House Claims Council
Photographs taken by Liverpool City Council’s street cleansing team, and published in the Liverpool Echo, purport to show used syringes, mounds of rubbish and overflowing toilets at the temporary day shelter.
The pictures show countless syringes scattered across the site surrounding Kingsway House, next to other drug paraphernalia. Some of the images were taken some weeks ago, with photos of the tipping captured as recently as Thursday, February 22.
A document compiled by street cleansing boss Adrian Devers says: “Toilets are highlighted as areas where sharps boxes should be, all toilets on site were both blocked and unusable or had clear evidence of serious drug use including a crack pipe.” One image shows a toilet piled high with human waste, with a used syringe lying next to the toilet seat.
Sharp boxes, used to safely dispose of syringes, were also sealed and unusable with no needles deposited inside. Pictures taken by the street cleansing team show one of the yellow bins turned upside down and “used as a perch while injecting”. Other needle bins were upside down and empty in a sink or dumped behind the basement car park. While out removing tipping from the site around Kingsway House on Thursday, February 22, Mr Devers claims crews removed 71 needles from a nearby car park on Dale Street.
The document compiled by the street cleaning team also reveals needles were recovered underneath Kingsway house, as well as on the fire escape, from Johnson Street and a nearby hotel doorway.
But Signature Living managing director, Sue Wright, disputed claims of “prevalent drug abuse” at Kingsway House by city centre Councillor Nick Small. She told the Echo: “Councillor Nick Small is sitting on his middle class pedestal thinking that everyone on our project is sat there listening to The Archers and playing backgammon, but he needs to see what the reality of the situation is. [The residents of Kingsway House] have endemic, entrenched addictions and of course they are drug users – but the city has always had a problem with drug users.”
However, photos taken at the site show needles are not being properly disposed of and are littering the area around the shelter. Ms Wright claimed the needle issue is “not exclusive to Kingsway” and that other homeless shelters have similar issues with needles not being disposed of properly and littered or flushed down toilets.
Despite plans to close Kingsway House at the end of February, Signature boss Lawrence Kenwright confirmed the day centre will remain open, adding: “It would be foolish and a real shame to break up this amazing community. I am so proud of how we have pulled together as a family.”
