A GROUP of residents in Yarm say they are still being terrorised by drunken gangs of youths.

Elderly people living in the Willey Flatts area say they are frightened to leave their homes at night because of teenagers who gather in the area to drink and cause trouble.

Dari Taylor, MP for Stockton South, who met members of the Willey Flatts Residents' Association in October to hear their concerns, returned on Tuesday to find the situation had not improved.

She said: "This is a very pretty and pleasant area of my constituency, however, I know that Willey Flatts residents - and particularly the elderly ones - were feeling very threatened by the anti-social and unpleasant behaviour of a few when I met with them in October.

"I was hoping that I would have found a rather more settled and less frightened community. But I did not find that, and that was quite distressing."

Mrs Taylor said empty vodka bottles and beer cans were regularly found in hedges, and youths urinated on resident's fences.

They also took items such as bird baths and tables from gardens and burned them.

Work is under way to clean up the area. A £114,000 regeneration plan has so far involved clearing a beck and replacing lighting columns.

Work on the footpaths will follow, and the plan will include a kick-about area and a shelter.

Mrs Taylor said: "This proactive and positive part of the plan can only work if young people in the area are willing to respect their surroundings and the people in their community."

She said she would put together a report for the police and the council's anti-social behaviour team in the hope of finding a solution to the problem.