Homes at risk with missing fencing

9:20am Sunday 27th April 2008

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A MISSING fence in the Highfield area of Keighley is leaving nearby homes vulnerable to trespassers, burglars and anti-social behaviour, a resident has claimed.

The man, who does not want to be named, lives in Highfield Road.

He said the fences used to separate the back gardens of two houses from a snicket running between them and also from the playing fields to the rear.

But he said since the barriers were ripped down by vandals nearly two years ago, yobs were repeatedly getting into the back gardens of a number of properties along Highfield Road.

He said: "Despite several attempts over the last 12 months, pleas to the council to replace the fencing alongside the path have fallen on deaf ears.

"Nature has tried to do the job by growing several trees and bushes in the gap.

"However, the garden is now open to the dumping of rubbish by the children heading for the playing field and the Friday night drinkers. It's fast becoming an eyesore.

"We were promised that the fencing around these two houses would be replaced when they were modernised but nothing has happened. The housing in the same block is now being targeted, as there is no fence to deter the perpetrators from invading these premises."

A spokesman for Bradford Council said that because the homes where the fencing was vandalised were owned by the Bradford Community Housing Trust (BCHT), it was not responsible for replacing the structure.

A spokesman for the BCHT said the man who contacted the Keighley News had not complained to the trust about problems with anti-social behaviour.

But he said a representative from the trust would discuss the problem with the resident.