A leafy suburb of Liverpool is being overrun by 'marauding and intimidating' groups of youths, according to terrified local residents.
People living in Woolton Village in the south of the city say the situation has deteriorated in the past year and has now reached a crescendo, with older people scared to leave to their homes. Police have recently introduced dispersal zones in the village to try and tackle some of the anti-social behaviour from gathering groups, with more orders to be in place this weekend.
One of those raising the issues is Professor John Ashton, a former regional public health director, who lives in Woolton Village. He said recent issues have made life 'horrendous' for residents.
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He said: "Last weekend hit a new low for the quality of life for those of us living in the heart of our beautiful village. We have long been accustomed to late night drunkenness from the inappropriate issuing of late alcohol licences locally, the antisocial parking on double yellow lines and pavements, and the proliferation of fast food outlets producing an epidemic of litter.
"However the increasing problem of listless young people marauding the streets, dominating the pavements with bikes and generally intimidating older and more vulnerable people has now hit a crescendo with fireworks added to the mix."
He added: "My heart bleeds for what Woolton Village has now become, at times it feels like Concert Square. There is a large proportion of older people living in the village and some of them are scared to leave their homes at the moment."
Professor Ashton has been delivering letters to residents in the village asking for their views on the current situation and asking them to contact local councillors and police about the issues.
One resident responded to say living in Woolton Village currently is like 'living in Dodge City.' Another resident said he had been assaulted been recently assaulted by a group of youths who he had challenged for setting off fireworks and verbally abusing people in the village.
Another resident responded to Professor Ashton's letter and said he recently had items thrown at his front windows by a gang of young people.
A number of issues have been raised with Woolton's three Liberal Democrats, Kris Brown, Malcolm Kelly and Barbara Mace. Cllr Kelly recently issued a response to local people.
In his response, Cllr Kelly said the councillors have been working with police to introduce dispersal zones in the village. These are special powers that allow police to move on people gathering in groups of more than two where anti-social behaviour is taking place and to take the names and addresses of the youths.
It is understood that 22 young people have since been visited at home and spoken to in the presence of parents, served with anti-social behaviour warnings and told to stay away from Woolton Village. If the same young people are identified during further dispersal orders then more action is likely to be taken.
In his letter, Cllr Kelly said: "You will be aware of the incidents of anti-social behaviour that is taking place in the Village. We share the concerns of local residents and have been working with various agencies to try to eradicate this problem."
He urged more residents to report problems directly to the police as it will allow the neighbourhood officers to proceed with further action in the village.
The councillor said action is also being taken to target problem businesses in the area. He said: "One business has changed its frontage in a way that attracts young people. This does not have planning permission and we have already raised it with the planning department who have commenced enforcement."
"We have also been working closely with the Public Protection Team at Liverpool City Council and raised concern with regard to a couple of businesses that have now been visited and had warning letters served on them and items removed from sale. This has included the removal of illicit vaping liquids and drug related paraphernalia.
"The businesses have been given advice about underage sales and they will be subject to undercover visits and test purchases. If they are found to be breaking the law this will result in possible prosecution."
Speaking about this weekend's further dispersal action, Community Policing Inspector Neil Birkett said: “In August we saw similar issues in Woolton Village and feedback from residents and our own reports suggest it was effective in reducing such issues for some time afterwards.
“However, recently we have been dealing with further incidents in this area, including youths congregating in large groups and intimidating people and using fireworks in Camp Hill Park and in the village. The scenes witnessed last weekend were completely unacceptable. We know the distress that such reckless behaviour can cause, and the risk it carries to people in the street, so we’re committed to using all available powers to take action.
“This order is just one tactic we employ, and we’re also working closely with the local Councillors, partners, businesses, residents, schools, parents and guardians to reduce such incidents.”
He added: "I want to stress that the dispersal zone is not designed to prevent young people, or anyone else, from meeting in the area this weekend. The dispersal zone is designed to give us the powers we need to deal effectively with anti-social behaviour and keep our community in Woolton safe.
“As we approach the bonfire period we would be grateful for any information around the illegal sale of fireworks to young people."
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