Plungington community and police describe their battle to thwart anti social behaviour and crime

But as the university has sought to increase student accommodation on campus, and students have been attracted to the newer, more modern facilities closer to the city centre, their absence has had a marked impact on the area.

Landlords, desperate to fill their increasingly empty rental properties, are housing hoards of people with complex needs, or converting terraces into supported living, which although well intentioned, has brought a plethora of social issues.

While the community is compassionate about vulnerable residents, they are not as patient about the resulting anti social behaviour and drug issues which are testing people's tolerance.

The problems have been further magnified as more people have been home to witness the blatant criminal behaviour, day and night, during the lockdown.

Locals were horrified by a visible increase in litter, needles and drug paraphernalia which seemed to build up further during the pandemic.

Both the police and community decided enough was enough.

More than 500 determined residents have joined a crime watch group on Facebook to highlight problems and hotspots in the community.

And the Post can reveal around 50 officers have been involved in a string of police activity in the last eight weeks, which began with covert plain clothes officers simply observing what was going on in the area.

Neighbourhood Sgt Emma Walker, who is also part of a new taskforce funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner, explains: " We decided to go ourselves looking at what was happening, with lots of covert policing in plain clothes. We saw a lot of drug use, not a lot of crime, but quite visible issues.

"That's quite impactive for the community.

"Once we'd seen it for ourselves we did a lot of high visibility work, such as mounted patrols, PCSOs. We decided to involve the community and other agencies and on June 16 did a socially distanced community roadshow. It was really positive, the community were supportive and happy to share their concerns, which were pretty much the same as ours."

This was followed by a question and answer session on Facebook, and a leaflet drop telling local officers were acting on their information.

Two weeks ago a dedicated e-mail address was launched to report concerns to - which has received more than 50 messages.

In the last eight weeks, 19 warrants have been carried out, with more to come, and 44 people - men and women, from their teens to their 50s - have been arrested.

Some are charged, some are waiting for a postal summons, and others have been dealt with by other means such as a caution.

Sgt Walker adds: " We have carried out drug seizures in Plungington and bordering areas amounting to £250,000 of class A drugs, £1million of class B drugs and £100,000 cash.

"We have also carried out stop checks and we have a few warrants left to do.

"I can't stress how brilliant the community has been - often they are out on the front clapping when we drive off from a warrant.

"We can't do it without the support of the people and our partners.

"The next stage will be partner work with housing, community groups, and social services."

Rev Peter Hamborg, vicar of the church at Plungington Community Centre, says: " Residents on the whole have been quite tolerant in recent years, but it got to the stage where enough was enough.

"I'm not without compassion. We do want to help people with these complex needs but one area can only take so much.

"Recently the church warden went down round the community centre and found used needles strewn around in bags, not especially hidden. You don't have to look very far. This has been reported as children play around there. One local user is known to have hepatitis so it's really dangerous and something needs to be done to address it.

" Conversations need to be had with those support providers about what exactly the 'support' is that they are providing - it's possible some of their regular support was stopped during the lockdown.

"The police have been good in the last couple of months recognising we can't just tolerate anti social behaviour and drug abuse."

A 45-year-old woman, who has lived in the area for 20 years, says some people are afraid to walk to the shops or cash points because of a select few addicts.

She adds: " I remember it being a really nice place to live. Loads of people walking around talking to each other and being friendly.

"The shops were always busy, especially the fruit and veg shop that used to face the Spar.

"The addicts are noisy, always fighting and intimidating people at the cash points or going to and from houses and surrounding areas.

"There's always been crime issues but now people are talking more about the anti social behaviour, especially outside the Spar - drunks and drug addicts screaming and just throwing their empty cans and bottles on the floor, right in front of the bin.

"There are needles everywhere. I even found a needle and a sharps box from the x-ray department from Royal Preston Hospital. The whole area needs regular cleaning which we're hoping to do as a community once we can get a date sorted.

"The police say that they'll do more to help, but they don't do much regarding the noise and mess."

Local councillor Pav Akhtar has helped to expose the problems.

His family have lived in the area 45 years and he recalls the student community bringing "life and colour" to the area.

He explains: " The problem is a lot of services are not being run properly. There are issues with housing associations not dealing with people properly.

" The council is at fault in a way for allowing too many HMOs. The student market died 10 years ago and landlords turned to the private sector.

"In my opinion there is a complete scam going on with agencies basically supposed to be caring for people - there is one bunch of crooked people after the next creaming off the system. We are failing the most vulnerable in society - how has the system allowed this to happen?

"Police are brought in to mop it up but they can't fix the problems alone.

"They have shut down some drug dens but there is still a brothel still running near Spar and other drug dens."

Other agencies are also getting involved in the battle to clean up the area.

The Tribal Project is a Preston based charity that has been helping people in recovery from substance misuse for the last seven years.

In response to the recent spike in drug use and crime , 10 days ago it launched a self-referral service that will give Plungington residents, who are concerned about their drug or alcohol use, 'priority access' to their services at their Brook Street offices..

It has had three referrals and eight other tentative enquiries.

Ian Edmondson, service director, feels failures by statutory services are partly to blame for Plungington's situation.

He says: "It's the first time we've ever chosen a postcode like this, but we can't turn a blind eye to it. We can't just wait for the people to decide they need help.

"Every shop in Plungington has taken our poster. It's a wonderful place and its people deserve options. There has to be a way out of addiction and we offer a way out.

"We know the first thing is that without safe housing and finances people are not going to find recovery, so we help them put in the basic building blocks, whether by contacting housing or the council.

"We don't ask people to jump through hoops, we tell them what we know works and what doesn't."