CALL FOR STEPS TO CURB YOUTHS
CONCRETE steps at the town's Lottery Place car-park are the latest addition to the list of anti-social behaviour hotspots in Dromore.
According to one local councillor, the steps have become an assembly point for youths, who gather there to drink.
Now Councillor Paul Rankin is calling for action to tackle the problem, a call backed by party colleague, Councillor David Herron.
The steps in question provide rear access to the grounds of The Beeches sheltered housing scheme and, according to Mr. Rankin, are in routine use by elderly residents. "It provides convenient access to the town centre," he said.
"But now these young people are sitting there on the steps, drinking and breaking bottles."
Apart from the inevitable anxiety caused by the assembled youths, said Mr. Rankin, the broken glass posed a potential danger to the elderly people using the steps.
"The lady at The Beeches has to go down regularly to brush up the glass at the gate," he said.
The DUP councillor is also calling on the Department of Regional Development to carry out repairs to a number of the steps, badly weathered and damaged to the point of themselves posing a danger.
While Mr. Herron, a member of the District Policing Partnership, has undertaken to raise the anti-social behaviour issue with the DPP, to see what action might be taken to address the problem, Mr. Rankin is calling for a second gate to be installed, at the bottom of the steps, to deny the youths access.
News of the problem follows earlier reports concerning anti-social behaviour elsewhere in town.
In recent weeks a local mother said foul-mouthed youths gathering at the town's playpark were causing mums to steer clear of the area with younger children.
And prior to that it emerged that the district council remained at a loss over what to do about vandal-plagued public toilets in the park.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Dromore
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
