'If I was young I would clear out' PEOPLE living on a Greenock estate say they are afraid to leave their homes because of gangs of youths.

At a meeting of the Fancy Farm and Grieve Road Tenants' and Residents' Association, residents voiced their fears over anti-social behaviour.

One pensioner said: `I am frightened to live here. If I was young I would clear out. The vandalism, the junkies and everything else is just terrible.` Iain McKenzie, Councillor for Fancy Farm and Grieve Road, was at the meeting along with two community police officers and a representative of Oaktree Housing Association.

Councillor McKenzie said: `What people want is high visibility community policing. Sometimes that is not possible because of staff constraints. We need to look into the possibility of having wardens and a system like they have in Larkfield now. The council, police, residents and wardens are all involved.

`It seems to be really successful there and I would like to see it rolled out across Inverclyde.` Some residents at the meeting on Tuesday night also expressed concern many of the youths hanging about near the shops and in lanes are not from Fancy Farm.

One said: `These kids are not from here. They are coming here from all over because they don't get hassled by the police.

`They hang around outside people's houses and drink in the lane. The lassies are as bad as the boys.

`It makes you scared to go out.` Councillor McKenzie suggested that the police strategy in Larkfield meant that there is 'migration of anti-social behaviour'. He said that youths may hang around in areas like Fancy Farm, where they are less likely to get arrested.

The community police urged those at the meeting to phone them whenever they were bothered by anti-social behaviour.