TWO households who have run riot in a Brandon neighbourhood have been the subject of police action after neighbours complained they could take no more.

TWO households who have run riot in a Brandon neighbourhood have been the subject of police action after neighbours complained they could take no more.

Numbers 15 and 26 Knappers Way were served with temporary closure orders which forbid anybody apart from the residents entering the property.

A court case will be heard on Friday at Bury St Edmunds where police will apply to make the orders permanent. The case is being brought under the Antisocial Behaviour Order, 2003, and is the first of its kind in Suffolk.

Problems on the street, which is set in a square around a large patch of grass, include loud, late night parties, large groups gathering around the houses at weekends, and alleged underage drinking.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “There was drinking and people coming back to the houses on a Friday and Saturday and, each weekend, you didn't know what you were in for.

“They would congregate round the house and in the front gardens. There was smoking and noise and they were just really being a nuisance.

“Usually, the children are good mannered and they are approachable but when they get going they come alive and they're like animals.

“Now though, it's gone from one extreme to another and it's really quiet. We haven't had the weekend yet though.”

Another, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: “We've had a brick through the window and my car has been damaged. I haven't been out of the house in a week because I'm too scared.

“It has been quiet since the orders went up though.”

Both houses have been the subject of discussion at previous safer neighbourhood team (SNT) meetings and police community support officers have paid regular visits to the street.

Brandon SNT had started collecting evidence from neighbours and eviction procedures have begun with regard to one of the houses.