RESIDENTS who say their lives are being ruined by vandals and drug addicts are urging their local council to take more action.

For the past 20 years, residents living in and near Alliance Street and Hind Street, Stockton, have watched the area deteriorate.

They say once it was a proper residential area with a community feel, but has now become a hotbed for crime and vandalism.

During the past few years Stockton Borough Council has worked with the police to regenerate the area, and in a couple of days, alley gates are due to be erected behind the back streets in an attempt to stamp out crime.

However, the residents claim this is too little, too late.

Annette Thomson, who lives in Hind Street, said: "Our lives are ruined by drug addicts and vandals.

"We have been promised these alley gates will go up and help the problems we have, but I can't see that.

"It is too little, too late. I have lived here 20 years and no-one from the council has listened to the problems we face.

"We can't let our children play outside and we desperately want to sell, but no-one wants to live here. It is like a noose around our necks.

"The council think by giving us these gates it will keep us quiet for a few years, but I do not believe they are going to be effective."

More than half of the properties in the two terraced streets are boarded up and derelict. The remaining population is concerned about burglary and vandalism of neighbouring properties.

Inspector Ray Morton, community policing officer at Stockton, said: "The residents have had a bad time and we are trying to turn it around."

A spokeswoman from Stockton Borough Council said: "The Alliance Street Action Team, which does include resident representatives, has been involved in the decision to install alley gates in Alliance Street. We started the installation of alley gates last year, elsewhere in the town, and surveys carried out have shown they have been received well and have had a positive impact."