Durrington Cemetery gates to keep out drug pushers

17/08/2009

Durrington Cemetery gates are to be closed to keep out antisocial behaviour such as drug pushing and boy racing.

Worthing Borough Council has made the decision and the gates are to be closed at night from September 1st, with opening hours from April to September set to be between 08:00 GMT and 20:00 GMT.

From October to March the cemetery will be open between 08:00 GMT and 18:00 GMT.

The gates are to be locked within an hour of the stated closing time.

"Access will still be possible at all reasonable daylight times, but we also will be monitoring the situation and will review the arrangements if we feel that we need to," commented executive head of service at the council John Thorpe.

He explained that the decision had been made after a number of cases of criminal damage and antisocial behaviour.

Recent data has shown that London and Nottingham residents are the most likely in the UK to claim for theft or burglary, which may hint that more security gates are needed in the cities.