Ledbury residents worried after anti-social behaviour at Bridge Street flats

A gate at the flats in Bridge Street was smashed in by a group of youths with a shopping trolley, stones and takeaways have been thrown at windows and people have started using a shared garden as a shortcut.

In a worrying incident on Saturday, May 21, a car mounted the pavement outside the flats and crashed into the garden wall, causing a fair amount of damage.

Incidents have been reported to police and there are calls for landlords Platform Housing to install CCTV or a locked gate at the property.

Darren Ehrlich, who lives in one of the flats, said it’s usually a peaceful place to live.

“I’ve lived here for 11 years but this has just been in the last couple of months,” he said.

A gate was broken at the flats in Bridge Street

“I don’t think the incidents are connected - the gate was smashed by kids with a shopping trolley, one of my neighbours saw that happen.

“The car crashing through the wall was the frightening one - someone could’ve been killed.

“And then there’s all this anti-social behaviour. I’ve had kids knocking my door then running off, there’s rubbish left in the garden, my neighbour had stones thrown at their window and we’re getting people use the garden as a walkway.”

People using communal garden as shortcut

Mr Ehrlich, who works at Amcor Flexibles in Ledbury, said some people have used the garden as a shortcut to Long Acres in the past but that this has happened more frequently in recent weeks.

“It’s a private garden for these five flats but people think they can go through it to get to the street behind, even though there are three signs clearly stating that there’s no right of way.

“The residents are starting to feel a bit unsafe and are worried about what’s going to happen next. There are retired people and young children living in these flats - it’s not a nice situation.”

There have been multiple incidents in the past few weeks, causing damage and mess

A spokesperson for Platform Housing said the broken communal gate has been reported and will be repaired soon.

“Our neighbourhood officers visit their designated areas regularly and provide their contact details to our customers so that they always have support when they need it,” she said.

“We also have our dedicated webpage www.platformhg.com/antisocial-behaviour where customers can find out a wide range of information and anti-social behaviour can also be reported.”