AS the Evening Advertiser reported last week, traders in Walcot's Sussex Square claim the intimidating behaviour of youths is driving away their customers.
They have been shutting up their shops early, concerned that they may become targets for vandals.
They say youths have hurled abuse at elderly shoppers, scaring them away, and that the problem gets worse during the half-term school holidays.
To help tackle the growing problem, a bank of six CCTV cameras was introduced 18 months ago at a cost of £150,000, and the area has been policed by volunteer street wardens.
According to the police, the measures appear to be working, with no official reports of criminal damage this year.
Parks and Walcot were rated among the most deprived 10 per cent of areas across the country in a survey carried out by the Office of National Statistics in 2000.
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