The council certainly has not given up its battle against drug use at Warwick Mount (Argus, February 8).

For the past year housing officers and councillors have worked with the Tenants and Residents Association, police, the community safety team and the rough sleepers team to reduce problems at the Brighton block.

In that time the council has:

  • Introduced security sweeps every three hours night and day by security officers to supplement regular sweeps carried out by the police.
  • Tackled the problems caused by a very small number of tenants and outsiders getting into the block. One vulnerable tenant who was exploited by rough sleepers has been moved. We are now addressing problems caused by two other residents, one of whom lives elsewhere.
  • Trained cleaners and other staff to remove drugs paraphernalia safely. All drug incidents are reported to the regular joint intelligence meetings we hold with the police to help us monitor the problems.
  • Written to all residents encouraging them to report drug abuse and anti-social behaviour. Understandably, many people feel nervous about making witness statements.
  • Launched a major facelift for Warwick Mount that includes new security doors, which will be installed this year, scheduled lift replacements and improved insulation.
  • Decommissioned the trades’ entry button, which has reduced the number of drug users getting into the block. Plans are in hand to do this in other blocks.

Residents at Warwick Mount are not the only community facing these problems, and a report on options for improving security to all council blocks is going to housing committee on March 4.

Gathering evidence about drug abuse and other anti social behaviour is key to dealing with the problems, and we urge residents to pass on any information they have to the police, council officers and their ward councillors.

We are all committed to dealing with this problem, but we can only succeed by working together, and we can’t act without evidence.

Finally, we would like to thank Carl Boardman, chair of the Warwick Mount TRA, and his colleagues for the work they do on behalf of neighbours, often in extremely difficult circumstances.

It’s a great pity your reporter didn’t talk to them. He would have got a more balanced picture of a very challenging situation.

Councillors Geoffrey Bowden and Stephanie Powell,

Greens, Queen’s Park