THE MENACE of thuggery on East Lancashire housing estates is revealed once again today in two of our towns - highlighting the need for tougher action to stamp out this malaise.

In Darwen, householders of Queen Street are angry over teenage louts who subject them and their children to nightly violence and abuse.

In Blackburn, the same phenomenon is blamed for houses standing empty on the Roman Road estate as, despite chronic housing needs, few people want to live there.

And the catalogue of complaints compiled by the Darwen residents - children being assaulted, adults being threatened and sworn at, vandalism and graffiti-daubing - paints a grim picture of the misery that decent householders are enduring.

But, surely, the question is: why must they?

It is unfair that the quality of life of residents and the reputation of their neighbourhoods should be dragged down by these callous and irresponsible minorities. Thorough and pro-active policing - distinct from that offered by the occasional prowl of a patrol car through these areas - is necessary to identify, target and catch the individuals.

And salutary, deterrent punishment must then follow from the courts.

Tough action is also required from the local authorities - and that being proposed in Burnley whereby troublesome tenants in council houses face eviction is a model for others to follow.

And although the law already has many after-the-event measures to deal with the crimes and nuisances that these young thugs generate, it would do well to focus more precisely on them to prevent them occurring in the first place.

To that end, our legislators might consider emulating the curfew system now operating to a hugely beneficial effect in many American cities.

But while we lack such a step, the focus must also fall on the parents of these thugs.

They are responsible for them and if they fail in that duty, then, surely, they must also be held to account - and the tougher tenancy agreements that councils are compiling must always include measures to nail parents to that responsibility and to penalize them either by injunction or eviction if they fail.

For the bottom line of this issue is that the thugs must swiftly discover that they will no longer be tolerated.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.