Councillors are calling for new police powers to crackdown on trouble in a York suburb.
Acomb has been subjected to multiple reports of anti-social behaviour in recent weeks.
And it seems to be peaking again as we enter the half term break.
Only on Friday night, one concerned resident posted about the behaviour of a group of teenagers.
“I’ve just left work and witnessed no less than 40 of them, running across the main road, standing and jumping on walls outside people’s homes, throwing items and generally causing chaos,” they wrote.
“One was inches away from being knocked down by my Uber driver.
“It’s honestly ridiculous. First evening of half term and Acomb doesn’t feel safe.
I’m so glad I chose a short, yet expensive, Uber ride over walking 20 minutes so I wasn’t faced with navigating my way home past these idiots.”
Another said he “had my door kicked in last Saturday cause a group of teenagers got caught trying to enter our block of flats”.
And a third reported a group “creating mayhem around Acomb Court”.
Westfield Ward councillors are looking into what can be done about the trouble.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew Waller posted online: “People are wanting a family-friendly Front Street.
“They’ve been in touch with me about the concerns they have on the antisocial behaviour and street drinking that’s happened here.
“In other places, there are public space protection orders (PSPOs) that prohibit street drinking, and they’re asking why this can’t happen here.”
At the City of York Council people scrutiny committee tomorrow (Monday), councillors will discuss a proposal to strengthen the powers of a PSPO covering the city centre.
Cllr Waller presented a petition to the council in July on behalf of Acomb businesses expressing concerns at the anti-social behaviour on Front Street which was “deterring people from visiting local shops”.
He added: “We’re expecting that to be included in the report coming to councillors on the 26th of October to review, so that we can say that this area will get the same protection as the city centre.”
Westfield Labour councillors posted about the trouble yesterday (Saturday). They said: “We’re aware of the issues with anti social behaviour since the schools broke up and have raised people’s concerns urgently with North Yorkshire Police.
“We’ll post updates when we have them.”
They urged residents to report anything they saw that concerns them to police.