ELDERLY residents at a Warrington sheltered housing unit are fed up with “riff raff” lurking around their homes.
Two women from the unit in Dudlow Green Road, Appleton told the parish council that youths hanging around the property were causing a nuisance.
They complained about youths using abusive language, staring at them and urinating in the property’s courtyard.
One woman said: “We have had problems with riff raff. I drove onto the site and there were two chaps facing the houses – and they stared hard at me.”
She approached them and asked if they were visiting someone. One of the men said yes, but was unable to identify who – so she asked them to leave the site and they did.
“As they made their way down the road, they called me names. I put my car in the garage and then other children joined in and I became a figure of amusement.”
The second woman said she went to put rubbish out at the back of the property and was confronted by someone was urinating.
She said people had been urinating in three separate areas of the property. Residents called the police, who sent a crime prevention officer to the site.
But problems were exacerbated as there was a public footpath running through the property. Police had suggested that the pathway be marked as a walkway to prevent youths wandering around the property.
She said: “We are at our wits end – we don’t know what to do.”
Chairman Coun John Price (pictured) suggested the marked walkway would make the area easier to police. He suggested residents contact the management committee to see if a CCTV camera could be installed.
Coun Price added: “Go to the management committee and say the parish council requests that they consider helping improve security.
“No-one should feel uncomfortable in their own home.”
Coun Price arranged for the women to discuss the problems with two Police Community Support Officers who were present after the meeting.
