A TEAM of troubleshooters has been called into a York estate where nuisance youths have forced the community centre to shut up shop at night.

Evening meetings and activities at the social hall, in Roche Avenue, Bell Farm, have been postponed after a gang of about 40 youths ran amok outside, disrupting a management committee meeting.

Some of the gang clambered onto the roof and ran around while others shouted abuse and tried to kick the front door in.

Mary Leeming, chairman of the management committee, said: "It was just frightening. I felt very intimidated. I had to ring my husband because I was too frightened to walk home by myself."

She said the trouble had only started in the last few weeks, but the management committee was no longer prepared to put up with it.

Mrs Leeming added: "We have worked hard to keep the hall in a good state and we don't want them wrecking the place.

"We feel like we are letting them win but we have had to shut the hall in the evenings for the safety of ourselves and others who use it."

Now City of York Council's tenancy enforcement team and the police are set to meet with residents at an open meeting at the hall at 7pm on Monday, December 4, to look at the situation.

The team is a joint effort between the council's housing department and North Yorkshire police to target anti-social behaviour across the city.

Under the Crime and Disorder Act, councils or the police can ask for anti-social behaviour orders to be made on people causing trouble. Breach of the order is a criminal offence.

PC Howard Smelt-Webb, community policeman for the area, said: "The issue of nuisance youths is York-wide and, indeed, nationwide.

"But since November 1 we've only had five reports of problems with youths (in Bell Farm)."

PC Smelt-Webb added that he thought people may not be reporting incidents to the police and he urged those who had experienced problems with youth crime in Bell Farm to ring him personally.

But he said action was being taken by the police including visiting and writing to parents in the area.

"We are aware that there are issues there but, to be truthful, there are issues city-wide," he said, adding that representatives of the police would be available to speak to at the meeting on December 4.