YOUTHS who have been making life a misery for residents on a North Yorkshire estate are to be targeted by police.

Officers have pledged to tackle intimidation, vandalism and other incidents on the Cutpurse estate, Richmond.

The pledge was made following a town council meeting where a local woman from the estate appealed for help.

She claimed she had suffered from three years of abuse, noise and vandalism, and that both her mental and physical health had suffered because of a gang that gathered near the local chip shop.

She said up to 15 youths would gather together in the early evening and that noise and abuse would continue until late at night.

She said that on one occasion they had attempted to set light to a door, bins were overturned and damaged, and that some local people were frightened to walk in the area.

The estate is a mixture of council and private homes and flats and police sergeant Mick Griffiths said moves were now under way to tackle the problem.

He said discussions were also under way between the police and Richmondshire District Council as owners of many of the properties.

Councillor Anne Frizell said one of the problems was that there was little for teenagers to do in Richmond - and she supported moves to create a community centre in the town.

Coun Jane Metcalfe said youngsters could be given another interest when a site for a skateboard area in the town was identified.

Meanwhile, despite the problems on the estate, crime levels in the Richmondshire area are still falling, according to police performance figures. The number of house burglaries has dropped by 14 per cent since April, 1998, and March this year, while break-ins at commercial properties were down 47 per cent.

The number of vehicle thefts was down 18 per cent, criminal damage by 33 per cent and drugs offences by between 23 per cent and 50 per cent.