Neighbours are fighting back against the teenage tearaways who have made their lives a misery.

People living in the the Willingdon Trees area of Eastbourne say in the past 12 months soaring levels of vandalism and street crime have made them prisoners in their own homes.

They are hitting back with a new residents' association which is backing a string of measures designed to bring peace back to the estate.

They hope new CCTV cameras and extra police patrols will deter the young criminals.

Re-opening the burned-down youth centre and spending a £50,000 council grant to spruce up the area will give the youngsters, some as young as 10, somewhere to go.

Resident David McGowan, committee member of the newly formed residents' association, said: "Some people are scared to leave their homes.

"We are hoping the re-opening of the community centre and a youth club will give them something to do because not long ago this was a lovely estate."

Oakwood Primary School, in Magnolia Drive, is to install eight CCTV cameras after a summer of repeated acts of vandalism costing the school thousands of pounds.

Headteacher Bill Elms said: "Just before the summer we had 28 windows broken in one night.

"That was followed up during the summer holidays with a lot more damage.

"I have turned to the parents to enlist their support. The damage cost us between £7,000 and £8,000.

"It will be in the kids' interest not to be in the school after school hours when we install CCTV.

"Most of them just want to kick a football around and the problem is for 20 kids who want to do that there will be one who thinks it's a good idea to get up on the roof, light a fire, smoke dope, break bottles or worse. We have to take a hard approach.

"We need to develop long- term facilities for kids in this area.

"It's only a minority that get involved in this sort of thing but they taint all the others."

The Willingdon Trees Community Centre, at the heart of the estate, was wrecked by fire more than two years ago.

Firefighters believe discarded cigarette butts were the cause of the blaze.

The centre is due for completion in October and residents' association secretary Sandra O'Donnell said: "They have not had a youth club for two years and there is nothing to do here. I do sympathise with them.

"We want them to take some responsibility for themselves because it is a community centre for them."

Mrs O'Donnell is appealing for children or adults who want to be involved in setting up a youth group to contact her on 01323 508863.