Stoke-on-Trent residents demand alley gates

30/09/2009

People in Stoke-on-Trent are calling for gates to block off an alleyway that has seen a worrying increase in antisocial behaviour recently.

Litter has been dropped across the streets and windows have been smashed by binge-drinking gangs who congregate in the alley off Chorley Avenue in Chell, the Sentinel reports.

The problem has become so serious that it has prompted residents to submit a petition bearing 155 signatures to Stoke-on-Trent City Council, urging the authority to block off the alleyway at night using gates.

Local woman Jean Knapper told the paper: "They are spoiling living here for all of us, because there is always something going on. We are living on our nerves.

"At the weekends, we get no sleep. Last Friday, two cars pulled up outside the alley with loud music blaring."

It follows reports in the Uxbridge Gazette that people in Ruislip have become so exasperated with antisocial behaviour in their area that they paid for alley gates themselves.