YOBS are making life a misery for residents on a showpiece estate at Fleet.
Their late night drunken antics have left some families living in fear at Elvetham Heath.
Six people were reported to have been set upon by a 20-strong gang of youths last month as they walked home after an evening out.
Other residents have been abused and threatened after confronting the youths gathered near their homes.
Several bus stops have been smashed, and vandalism has occurred around the estate’s pond.
And up to 40 yobs were recently seen fighting among themselves alongside the pond.
It is a far cry from the dreams of most of those who moved on to the 1,700-home up-market estate in the past two years.
Some discussed the problem of
anti-social behaviour with Lib-Dem President Simon Hughes when he
visited the estate last week.
Among those who accompanied him was Hart Councillor Sue Fisher who told the Star on Tuesday: “I feel sorry for the residents because they were told the estate would be free of this type of behaviour.
“Before it was built the council asked the developer to consider putting in cabling for CCTV cameras, but we were told it wouldn’t be necessary because it wouldn’t be ‘that sort of estate’. Unfortunately they were wrong.”
She said residents believed that drug taking as well as booze was helping to fuel the problem.
A residents’ meeting was held at the community hall recently to discuss the problem and possible solutions.
They are desperate for action before the summer arrives, when the trouble is at its height.
Coun Fisher said one answer would be the provision of a building where the estate’s teenagers could “chill out”.