Residents urge locking of Earls Walk gates

02/11/2009

People living on the Earls Walk estate in Scunthorpe have urged North Lincolnshire Homes to go ahead with locking gates in an effort to improve security in the area.

The social landlord has said that planning guidelines mean it cannot lock all of the £15,000 network of railings and gates that has been installed in recent months, the Scunthorpe Telegraph reports.

Head of housing management at North Lincolnshire Homes Steve Evans said the organisation is not planning to remove the security features in future.

"The team looked into the situation and found a permanent locked structure would not be possible under planning guidelines but it was still felt that putting the fencing and gates up would help to reduce the problems of anti-social behaviour in the area," he told the paper.

Earls Walk's ring of steel was completed in October after North Lincolnshire Homes joined forces with the local safer neighbourhood team to combat antisocial behaviour.