A HOUSE in Stockton at the centre of a drug dealing and violence has been shut down.
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, in partnership with Cleveland Police, secured a Closure Order at the property on Yarm Road yesterday (Wednesday May 4).
The order means the tenants, Andrew Gordon Frost and Jordan Malpas, must not enter the property and it will be inaccessible to anyone for three months.
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The house is now boarded-up and anyone who tries to enter can be prosecuted.
Teesside Magistrates' Court heard details of a series of complaints relating to incidents in and around the property, including reports of drug dealing throughout the day and night, a constant flow of visitors and cars, loud shouting, arguments and fights, some of which involved weapons.
Some of the drug dealing activity is said to have involved items being passed through a letterbox-sized slot cut into a boarded up window.
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Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Access, Communities and Community Safety, said: “The shocking activities at this property left residents and passers-by feeling extremely scared and unsafe for many months.
“It's absolutely unacceptable that innocent people should endure such behaviour and I'm very pleased the closure order will bring some peace to the neighbourhood.
“I'd like to thank our Civic Enforcement Officers for their hard work and dedication to help secure the closure order alongside the local policing team and ward councillors.”
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