The council’s antisocial behaviour team had received long-running complaints about a property in Leytonstone linked to suspected drug use and dealing, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Residents were evicted from their home in Leytonstone following a series of complaints about antisocial behaviour to Waltham Forest Council.
The council’s antisocial behaviour (ASB) team received numerous complaints about a property in Leytonstone linked to suspected drug use and dealing.
Incidents were spilling into the surrounding streets and had begun to affect the wider community, the council said.
“Despite repeated engagement and supportive interventions, the anti-social behaviour persisted, meaning more enforcement was necessary,” councillor Khevyn Limbajee said in a community safety newsletter.
The council, working alongside the Metropolitan Police, issued several premises closure orders, preventing people from entering the home for a set period of time.
Civil injunctions followed, designed to force people to stop certain behaviours.
Cllr Limbajee – the cabinet member for community safety – says that, over the course of the investigation, the physical condition of the property “declined significantly”.
Officers witnessed “increasing levels of neglect, including damage associated with repeated forced entries by unauthorised individuals, poor internal upkeep, and a general deterioration of the structure and surrounding grounds”.
It became “increasingly vulnerable to criminal activity and informal occupation,” with vermin infesting the gardens.
The council eventually issued multiple closure orders and executed a possession warrant in February, evicting the residents.
“This case demonstrates a sustained, coordinated response by the ASB team and local police over a sustained period which will now hopefully bring peace to residents of the street and the wider community who have been impacted,” Cllr Limbajee said.
Elsewhere in the borough, the partnership between the council’s parking and ASB teams and the Met saw 17 vehicles seized and four people arrested in February.
A further 17 fines were handed to motorists and a stolen vehicle was recovered as part of a month-long crackdown on illegal e-bikes and e-scooters.
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