IT must be awful to live in some parts of Higher Folds these days.

According to an estate sleuth two and three years old children are running wild late at night, footpaths are used as race tracks, teenagers roam the estate in the early hours, cars park on the grass verges and the shop fronts are used as a football pitch until late at night.

My nark also counted 23 cars without tax. Horrors.

He says it's about time the police and neighbourhood office got their act together.

I must say it sounds like life has changed somewhat since I lived next to police houses there in the sixties, when you entered the area, mostly by bus, through burning, choking slag heaps.

The surrounding countryside has since improved one hundred fold, but the permanent police presence has vanished, which must make a difference to law and order.

Work is going on through council initatives to try and make all estates in the area more pleasant areas in which to live.

Unfortunately there'll always be the few who give the place a bad name and create problems for everyone around them.

More night police patrols is one obvious answer. Sounds like there'll be rich rewards from the motoring fraternity anyway.

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