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RESIDENTIAL streets near to the town centre of Horwich are becoming no-go areas at night, locals have claimed.

Homeowners told councillors and police officers that vandals and drunks stagger around the town centre at weekends causing damaging cars and homes.

They spoke of their concerns at a meeting of Horwich Town Council.

A resident of Church Street said: "On Saturday nights between 2am and 3am we always get woken up by smashing glass and people having loud arguments.

"They are not kids, they are drunken adults and they are very violent.

"If we look out the window they throw eggs at the house. It could be that someone is being raped or murdered outside but residents daren't pull the curtain back and see what is going on.

"I'm just glad that it was only tyres that were slashed last weekend."

The main areas affected are Church Street and Lee Lane. Resident claim the thugs are coming from local pubs at closing time.

Another resident told the meeting: "They regularly rip the plants out of my pots and I find it very upsetting.

"There is so much noise at the weekends and we cannot sleep. It may seem like a trivial issue but it plays on people's nerves."

Incidents of vandalism have also been reported at Horwich Parish CE Primary School over the last few weeks.

Vandals daubed obscene graffiti on the wall and ransacked the school's games equipment shed.

PC Andy Vernon, community beat manager for Horwich west, said: "I have been made aware of the problems and we are looking into it.

"What I must urge residents to do is contact the police whenever these incidents occur so we can do something about it."

Insp Mo Razaq, who is responsible for Bolton West, updated councillors on crime in Horwich over the past year.

He said: "We had a target to reduce crime by 21 per cent, but we smashed it with 33 per cent.

"We have made improvements across the area and the town centre CCTV has played a big part in preventing crime and has helped us catch criminals."

9:47pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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