Court bid to end street hell
Councillor John Divers
MORAY Council has gone to the courts in a bid to quell the misery being suffered by some people on Elgin’s Hossack Drive.
Crime has been drawn to the new council development in the Linkwood area of the town, with law-abiding citizens bearing the brunt of extreme unruly behaviour by a number of residents and their visitors.
The council this week lodged an application in Elgin Sheriff Court for an interim anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) against one tenant, and it is being processed.
However, with an elderly tenant already moving out of Hossack Drive this week, a woman featured in last week’s ‘Scot’ said she has been left “disgusted” by the council’s handling of the issue.
In the past week, she said youths have urinated beside her front door on two separate occasions. Police were called out on Tuesday night due to the noise that was coming from an upstairs flat. However, she claims her young male neighbour and his visitors have now taken to sitting in the dark so that officers are unable to tell that they are there.
On Wednesday night, she said the man received a visit from a number of drunken youths, who started throwing stones at his upstairs window, over the top of her car, to attract his attention.
Elgin councillor John Divers confirmed that the interim ASBO has been lodged against a young man. If it is approved, he said it would have a series of conditions attached which could prevent him from having any visitors or playing loud music. A breach could result in his arrest, Councillor Divers said.
“Things are moving quickly, but they are probably not moving as quickly as some people would like,” he said. “They would like to see things done now, but I would say things are moving on at a rapid pace compared to how it has been in the past. It shows the seriousness of how the council and the police have taken this issue.”
A Moray Council spokesman said the local authority was working closely with Grampian Police, and other agencies, to respond to complaints made by tenants about the anti-social behaviour on and around Hossack Drive.
“This has involved frequent visits and appropriate warnings given to a small number of tenants who are breaching the terms of their tenancy,” he said. “Regular follow-up visits are being made by housing staff, along with the police and community wardens, to monitor the situation.”
For the full story see this week’s The Northern Scot.
