by Thom Morris
tmorris@thekmgroup.co.uk

A gate could be fitted to stop drunks making the lives of residents of the Church Yard in Ashford town centre a misery.

County Hall officials are running a consultation on the proposals which would see a gate fitted, blocking off access between Tufton Street and the High Street.

It would be closed and locked between 10pm and 6am between Friday night and Sunday morning.

Town centre councillor and Church Yard resident Jeremy Adby (pictured) first asked for a gate back in 2007 after regular weekend spates of anti-social behaviour.

He said: “Residents have had to put up with vomiting, urinating within the churchyard, shouting and urinating through letterboxes, threats of violence, drug-dealing and the ongoing situation with criminal damage.

“I believe the gating order is the only way forward concerning this matter.

“It has taken myself and my fellow neighbours almost six years to get this far with the proposed order.”

If the gate is fitted, late-night revellers would need to take the longer route around the town to get between the two busy streets which both have pubs on them.

Full story in Thursday's Kentish Express.