RESIDENTS overlooking a riverside hotspot for vandalism are considering clubbing together to fund CCTV to gather evidence of anti-social behaviour they say is ruining their lives.

The residents overlooking the River Okement behind Lidl say they are ‘fed up to the back teeth’ of living with disturbance long into the night in the picnic area opposite their flats.

A small group of teenagers, they say, are making their lives a misery, with loud music, bad language and screaming.

Bikes, drinks cans and duvets and pillows have been thrown in the river, youngsters have been seen racing on shopping trolleys over the footbridge and in one memorable incident a horse was galloped around the pocket-sized park.

And it culminated in recent weeks with an ornamental birch tree being snapped off and the fence around the viewing platform beside the river being broken down.

‘This was advertised as a peaceful development, but actually it is not,’ said one resident. ‘Quite frankly, I’m fed up to the back teeth of it. We have been away for a few days, but have come back, and they were there last night again. Nothing has changed.

‘The problem is, in this hot weather, you can’t even open your doors and windows. We can’t use our balconies.’

Another added: ‘We came here for a quiet time.

‘This was advertised as a quiet place to live, and it emphasised quiet. In fact though, we live with constant noise, really loud teenage noise. They are not scared at all.’

A third resident said: ‘There is one lad, who with everything he does, he looks up to see if we are looking. It’s like he’s doing it for our entertainment.’

Residents have called the police out a number of times in recent weeks, and they have attended. But each time, after the police have spoken to the youngsters, they return and the problem continues.

‘The worst thing is frustration,’ said one. ‘We have tried everything. We have had a meeting with the police, we have had a meeting with the rivers’ group, but nothing changes.’

They said the problem had been worse this year than last, with nuisance starting in the afternoon and continuing long into the night.

‘What we want is CCTV cameras, on the site of our building and one on the other side.

‘We would have to pay to install it ourselves, but that is what is needed.

‘The quote for that is £3,000, but we are starting to think it would be worth us clubbing together to protect ourselves.’

A spokeswoman for Okehampton Police neighbourhood policing team said they were aware of the problem and trying to address it.

‘There is also an ongoing issue with anti-social behaviour caused by a group of young people hanging around behind Lidl supermarket in Okehampton,’ said PCSO Lisa Smith.

‘A tree was damaged and also a fence on July 26. Police attended the location when they were alerted to this and identified some potential suspects for both offences from the descriptions of persons given, and this is currently being investigated.

‘Good descriptions of offenders which are passed to the police are very helpful in locating suspects.

‘In this case it was incredibly accurate and officers were able to question a male matching the description promptly after the offence was committed.’