YOUTHS as young as 12 are drinking, damaging property and frightening residents in part of Barnoldswick.

Up to 50 or 60 young people gather at The Butts on Friday and Saturday nights. Most just want to hang around with their friends, but some get hold of drink, and property in the area is regularly damaged. There is even evidence of drug abuse in the area.

Last Saturday night, bricks were thrown through two windows at Briggs and Duxbury Limited, causing damage estimated at £400 to repair. It is the fifth time that windows at the firm have been smashed over the past 12 months.

The long-established building and joinery firm and funeral directors has six display windows fronting The Butts, and almost every one has been smashed.

In another incident, the door to the company's chapel of rest was set alight, and the area to the front is littered with empty beer cans and bottles which have to be cleared away regularly.

Robert Lambert, of Briggs and Duxbury, is at his wits' end.

"There are as many as 50 or 60 here on Friday and Saturday nights," he said. "I don't know where they get the drink from, but there are beer cans and even wine bottles all over here."

On one occasion, Robert found two discarded syringes.

"To find those two needles was really alarming," said Robert.

As well as the damage to the firm, he is concerned for residents in the area: "It's frightening when there are so many of them here, especially for residents. There are a lot of elderly people in the area and they are terrified of coming down here on a Friday and Saturday evening."

Robert said the problems had been reported to the police, and while officers had been and spoken to the youngsters and moved them on, it hadn't solved the problem.

This week Robert met with Barnoldswick's new police sergeant, Peter Henderson, to look for a better way forward.

For the police it will be one of the first chances to put their new Problem Oriented Policing approach to the test. As reported last week, the new initiative focuses on identifying a particular problem and working with partners in the community to implement an effective solution.

Sgt Henderson said from now on that area of town would be regularly patrolled, especially at the times when there were problems. Officers would be taking a more proactive approach on issues like under age drinking, using simple but effective techniques like taking names and addresses and informing parents of what their children were up to.

He stressed officers would be looking to eradicate the problem, not just move it elsewhere.

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