In 2023 the Neighbourhood management team in Little Hulton were faced with a difficult dilemma, the rise of Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) linked to criminal damage on local transport, led to bus companies threatening to stop sending their buses on their routes through the borough.
It was reported that in 2023 one of the bus companies saw over £100,000 in windscreen damages alone, from bricks that were thrown by local youths.
The loss of public transport could have serious implications for the community, isolating many people who rely on the buses to get them to other areas of the city and beyond.
A consultation was led with local partners along with detached sessions on the streets of Little Hulton to target the young people causing the issues, but something needed to be done to create a longer term solution in tackling the ASB towards local buses.
Asa Keenan, Active Communities Development Officer for Salford Community Leisure (SCL), had previously worked with Minds on a Mission to deliver educational escape rooms for children and young people accessing Salford Community Leisure’s activity programmes. Salford Community Leisure and Minds on a Mission Managing Director, Sophie Wolfendale began discussions around adapting this concept to tackle local issues through visual learning.
After extensive research utilising Street Games network of delivery providers across the county to understand if any learning could be taken from similar projects and consultations with partners at Salford City Council, Forhousing, Transport for Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Police, SCL and Minds on a Mission have developed a preventative offer for young people ages 9-11 in the form of an escape room experience.
Asa Keenan said:
‘We believe that by getting young people to think about the consequences of their actions then we can start to break cycles of behaviour. Children will solve clues in a bid to escape from the 3 room escape room, these clues are made up of official facts and figures collated using GMP and TFGM data. The answers needed to escape will teach those taking part the dangers and impact anti-social behaviour can have on their lives and the community which they reside.’
The project has been funded by Salford’s Standing together fund and Forhousing which will allow the escape room to initially tour 10 local primary schools in Little Hulton and Walkden.
Fay Flatt, Neighbourhood Development Officer said about the project:
‘After lots of regular meetings with TFGM, GMP and local Youth Services about the issue, Asa presented us with the escape room idea and everyone agreed that this could be a unique way to inspire young people. Utilising local funding pots, in particular the Standing Together funding enabled us to fund this amazing project, and having seen the escape room that has been developed by Minds on a Mission and SCL I really believe we can have a positive impact on local children to help us tackle the anti social behaviour happening in our area.’
Sarah Potts from TfGM said:
‘We are really excited about this project, in Salford there are hotspots on the transport network where criminal damage is high, so we are looking forward to seeing how this escape room develops. This project ties in nicely with a virtual reality product we have produced that shows the consequences of throwing a brick at a bus, so I think it will be great to work with Salford Community Leisure & Minds On A Mission to see how we develop this across the hotspot areas.’
Although this current project looks at the particular issue with local transport, the escape room has been created so that it can be adapted to tackle other rising issues in other areas of the UK.
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