A CHARITY has turned a Darlington street into a "living hell", according to a resident.

The 700 Club, based at Grange Road Baptist Church, houses vulnerable people.

But Jo Griffiths, who lives between two 700 Club properties, in Station Road, near North Road station, says the charity is prolonging its clients' problems - not solving them.

Mrs Griffiths claims "recovering" alcoholics spend their days drinking in the front garden.

Puddles of vomit on the street are common and noise goes on into the early hours.

The 700 Club admits there are problems, but insists it is working to solve them.

But Mrs Griffiths is moving out.

"On just our second night, there were windows smashing and all sorts of noise," she said.

"We thought it had to be a one-off.

"Since then, it hasn't been every night, but it has been every weekend. They are just out of their mind on drink.

"The houses act as a meeting place and all the misfits from the town come down. Last night, the front garden was full of people drinking cider. One gave a dog some.

"There is no supervision and people are getting off their faces."

Mrs Griffiths moved to the rented six-bedroom house on January 5 from another part of Darlington with her husband and daughter.

She has spoken to the police, former Mayor Eleanor Lister and council officers about the problem.

"The police were sympathetic, and told me to keep ringing," she said. "The house itself has been renovated and is really nice. But I want people to know what the street is like."

Dr Ira Laketic-Ljubojevic, chief executive of the 700 Club, said: "We are really sorry she feels like that. I'm new, but I understand Station Road has been quite notorious for some time - many decades before our project began.

"We realise there are problems with people gathering who are not residents. But there is a key worker running a support service and there is a 24-hour on-call rota.

"It's a multi-agency project and we are trying very hard to find solutions."

The charity hopes to employ night-time security soon.

The 700 Club

HE 700 Club was formed in 1994, when Darlington Housing Action Group asked 700 people to give or donate £50 to support vulnerable people.

Money raised bought Hope House, a hostel in Grange Road. Since then, the charity has opened St George's Hall, an 11-bed hostel, in October 2005, and runs Stop2Night, which provides emergency accommodation.

It also runs the Emma Project, which houses vulnerable people. In December last year, The Northern Echo spoke to Roxanne Saunders, an 18-year-old who the project helped.

"The project has helped me so much," she said then. "If I needed support, all I needed to do was ask."

Visit www.700club.org.uk