Rat Runs may face closure

Adur District Council is moving towards closing the alleyways on the Mash Barn Estate in Lancing and in Hamble Road, Sompting, after residents asked for them to be shut.

They claim the alleyways are used by youths, involved in anti-social behaviour, who gather there and throw rubbish into nearby gardens and damage fences.

Police responding to 999 calls say the alleyways provide a useful escape route for criminals.

Adur council itself has to regularly clear garden refuse and other rubbish dumped in the alleyways. An initial consultation by the council found that the majority of Mash Barn residents wanted the alleyways closed while residents living in McKerchar Close had handed in a petition calling for them to be shut.

Public meetings held with Hamble Road residents also demonstrated support for the closure of alleyways there.

Local parish councils, police, housing associations and ward councillors have also sent letters supporting the alleyways being scrapped.

Although Adur council owns the footpaths and alleyways, they have become public rights of way, so to close them, the council must apply for a public path extinguishment order.

This has to be advertised widely after formal consultation has taken place with residents.If there are objections, the matter is referred to the Secretary of State.

Peter Hardy, crime prevention design adviser, who has visited both areas, told the council: "All these alleyways were acceptable when the estates were built, but with changes in behaviour among young people over the years since, they now add to the problems by providing escape routes and an area where they cannot be seen.

"The permeability that has been created has meant that residents have had no defensible space of their own, which would enable them to control their own environment and self-police it."