POLICE and council officers will meet next week to thrash out ways to tackle boy racers and anti-social behaviour on Bournemouth's East Cliff.

The council's cabinet agreed that ward councillors should also be present at the multi-agency meeting which will report its findings back to the cabinet later this month.

Councillor John Hayter, cabinet member with portfolio for strategic development and transport, said: "Different schemes will be discussed and costings prepared.

"We hope that the joint working group will come up with effective measures and support police in their enforcement action."

At a special council meeting last month panel members recommended to the cabinet that anti-social activity should be banned and urgent action taken to combat the problem.

They agreed that the gate at Monkey Island should be retained, more functioning cameras installed, parking restrictions enforced and noise levels monitored.

An alternative site for modified car enthusiasts at Cotlands Road should be explored on a trial basis along with changes in parking bays.

After attending the cabinet meeting, local resident Lesley Specterman, who lives on the eleventh floor of a Manor Road flat block, said: "It is not just an enforcement issue.

"The local authority has a responsibility to both the young people involved and local residents whose lives have been made unbearable for the past six years. I am not against young people; as an education welfare social worker I work with some of the most difficult and challenging youngsters.

"But, like other local residents, I also need a quality of life. How much longer do we have to suffer?"

First published: November 11