A flat has been shut down by police after neighbours were subjected to a campaign of anti-social behaviour.

The occupant has been evicted from the property in Strood, which was closed after police successfully applied for a court order.

Nobody will be allowed to live there for the next three months and only the landlord or an acting agent will be able to attend the flat in Silver Streak Way during that time.

It follows woes for neighbours after police investigated numerous reports of anti-social behaviour between October 2020 and last month.

Officers were called several times after occupants and visitors to the address verbally abused and intimidated members of the community.

Neighbours also complained of shouting and banging of doors at all hours of the day.

The closure order, secured at Medway Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, was also granted after drug paraphernalia was found discarded throughout the communal areas of the building.

'The occupant of this address was having a severely detrimental impact on the surrounding community...'

Sgt Stephen Holpin, from Kent Police’s Medway Community Safety Unit, said: "It is deeply regrettable that we have had to take this action, but the occupant of this address was having a severely detrimental impact on the surrounding community which could not go unchallenged.

"We made continued efforts with our partner agencies to encourage the occupant to change their behaviour, but they showed no willingness to exercise the most basic levels of respect to the surrounding community.

"It is therefore entirely proportionate for the person to be removed from this address, and I hope the community notices an improvement to their daily lives.

"We are not blind to the disproportionate impact the actions of a few people can have on the wider area, and we will always take the most appropriate action available to us.

"Anyone affected by similar issues is encouraged to not suffer in silence and instead report it to us, either through our website or by calling 101. If a crime is in progress, dial 999."

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