A HOUSING association has clamped down on rowdy troublemakers who were making life a misery for other residents of a Conwy Valley estate.
Cartrefi Conwy Anti social behaviour co Ordinators Linda Streely and Jan Jones.
Cartrefi Conwy secured court injunctions against a group of six people who had been holding noisy parties at a property on its Glanrafon estate in Llanrwst.
The tough legal measures mean that three non-residents who were joining the raucous noisy late night gatherings are now banned from the estate and three people who live there must behave themselves and cause no more problems in the neighbourhood.
Anyone who breaches the injunctions can be arrested and taken back before the court which has the power to imprison them for up to two years.
Jan Jones, Anti-Social Behaviour Manager for Cartrefi Conwy, said: “The injunctions were obtained against six people involved in the anti-social behaviour.
“We have had really positive comments from residents in the area that the interventions we have in place are working. We are continuing to monitor the situation but it’s been great to hear it’s made such a positive difference to the people living there.
Jan explained they took action after the problems started at Glanrafon, an estate with a total of 66 properties. She said: “A lot of these rowdy parties started to be held at one of the properties.
“There was noise from music and shouting, which would spill out on to the balcony areas, and there was even some fighting for which arrests had to be made.
“Additional nuisance was caused by the fact empty alcohol cans and bottles were being thrown over the balcony into the gardens of nearby properties.
“All this generated a number of complaints from neighbours and we decided to act swiftly to prevent further problems.”
Jan added: “We now have a flat on the estate which we use as a hub for residents to come and see us and North Wales Police have stepped up their presence on the estate.
“One important measure Cartrefi Conwy took was to install additional CCTV cameras on the estate. The cameras are used to monitor the estate situation and our colleagues from North Wales Police were based there regularly to gather evidence about what was happening.
“We worked very closely with the neighbourhood policing team and received lots of help from PCSOs Raymond Elliott, Daniel Owen and Sergeant Simon Evans.
“There were also quite a number of meetings with local councillors who were also very supportive.
“We took the matter before the County Court in Rhyl and successfully secured injunctions against six people who had been involved in the parties.
“Three of these injunctions totally exclude people from outside the estate coming on to Glanrafon for at least 12 months, and the others ensure three people who live on the estate cause no further nuisance or harassment to tenants.
“If any of the injunctions are breached, they can be arrested and taken back before the court which has the power to impose a prison sentence of up to two years.”
According to Cartrefi Conwy chief executive Andrew Bowden, the legal action seems to have worked.
He said: “It’s been a real success for our policy of zero tolerance against people making lives a misery for our tenants through anti-social behaviour and there’s been no major problems since we secured the injunctions.
“We take this kind of thing very seriously and act appropriately as soon as we can in the interests of the majority of our residents who obey the rules.
“Apart from those responsible being taken back to court, if injunctions are breached we can also look at repossession if they are in one of our properties.
“While this step is always the last resort, we have made three repossessions at other estates in the past 12 months and we do it straight away if there is a problem related to drug misuse.
“We have taken similar action in Rhos on Sea last summer when six injunctions were granted to us against troublemakers there.”
