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'Illegal activities' house closed down

Martin Heath
BBC News, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire Police A female police officer in a black shirt is attaching a piece of paper to a wooden board fixed over the window of a house. The board says "Sterling OSB Zero". A female police officer with long brown hair and wearing a yellow hi-vis tabard is looking on. The red render of the house is visible above and below the board. There is a hedge in front of the board.Northamptonshire Police
The house on Willis Way has now been boarded up

A house that was the subject of persistent complaints about illegal activities has been closed down.

A three-month closure order is now in force at the property on Willis Way in Towcester, Northamptonshire.

Anyone who enters the building could be arrested for breaching the order.

Northamptonshire Police said getting a closure order was always "a last resort".

Northamptonshire Police said they had been responding to reports of "drug-related criminality and associated anti-social behaviour" at the house since April 2020.

The force added that the issues were "causing misery to other residents and the wider community" and it had worked with West Northamptonshire Council to gather information about the "impact the escalating behaviour was having on others".

With assistance from the council and housing association, Amplius, the force applied for a closure order, which was granted on 16 June at Northampton Magistrates' Court.

The house was boarded up, and the tenant moved out.

Google A row of blocks of two-storey houses. The nearest block has a brick ground floor and light-brown painted upper floor. There is a white car and blue car parked on the road outside the houses. There is a green hedge to the left of the picture. A white roadsign indicates WILLIS WAY in black lettering.Google
Willis Way is a crescent in Towcester town centre, made up mostly of two-storey terraced houses

Anyone who enters it before 16 September could be arrested.

Sgt Lorna Clarke of the Towcester Neighbourhood Policing Team said: "The issues associated with this property were causing real harm and distress to those living nearby and the wider community.

"We do not take the decision to apply for a closure order lightly, and it will always be a last resort once all other avenues have been exhausted."

Lorna Clarke with blond hair tied back. She is looking to the left of the camera. She is wearing a blue top with a Northamptonshire Police logo. There are people behind her and what appears to be a blue inflatable slide. There are trees to the left and right.
Sgt Lorna Clarke said closure was always a last resort

Fay Hirel, director of housing and healthy communities at Amplius, said: "We're committed to ensuring all our customers can live in a safe and welcoming community.

"Where we have evidence of anti-social behaviour, we'll work with our partner agencies to take the relevant tenancy and legal action against the perpetrators to help us achieve this."

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