Closure order secured for house at the centre of "intimidating and unnerving" behaviour

A house at the centre of anti-social behaviour and suspected drug dealing has been shut down in Stockton.

On Tuesday, January 16 Teesside Magistrates' Court heard that residents living near the property on Arlington Street, Stockton, were fed up with constant visitors to the property who arrived at all times of the day and night on foot, in cars and taxis.

Witnesses spoke of scores of people arriving daily at the property to purchase drugs. These transactions mainly took place through the letterbox of the property but on occasions via an open first floor window where the occupants would lower a bottle down to the ground using a rope which was then pulled back up once money had been placed in the bottle.

The court was told that local residents feared for their safety due to the intimidating behaviour of the visitors to the property: residents frequently witnessed fighting, people wearing balaclavas and urinating in public. Several residents reported that they were unable to sleep due to the anti-social behaviour and noise created by those coming to the property. 

Witnesses, including older residents, said that they purposefully went out of their way to access local amenities, so they did not have to walk past the property. 

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, in partnership with Cleveland Police, secured a Closure Order on the property, which will now be inaccessible to anyone for three months. 

Councillor Norma Stephenson, the Council's Cabinet Member for Access, Communities and Community Safety, said: "Long term residents of the street have told us that the character of the street has changed in the past year 'from a good place to live to somewhere that's changed for the worse.

"This is not acceptable. People have an absolute right to live their lives in peace and not be scared to leave their own homes or to walk down their own street.

"I hope this closure order sends the message that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated in our communities.  

"I'd like to thank our Civic Enforcement Officers and ward councillors for their hard work and dedication to help secure the closure order alongside the local policing team."

Chief Inspector Dan Heron of Stockton's Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT), said: "This is joint working at its best. The community give us intelligence in confidence and together the police and the council work together to secure a closure order which allows us to shut the house down.

"No street should suffer due to crime or anti-social behaviour. If you would like to report something to the police, please call us on 101 so we can act on it. Independent charity Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously at Crimestoppers website or by phone on 0800 555 111."

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