RADICAL ideas on how to deal with the troubled Berry Brow flats come under the spotlight next week.

High-rise Holme Park Court and Bishop's Court, off Woodhead Road, are plagued by crime, vandalism and other anti-social behaviour.

One solution in tackling the long-term future of the 16-storey buildings could be to sell the site for housing.

Kirklees Council's Housing Management Committee for the Holme Valley and Newsome will discuss the issue on Tuesday.

Two police raids in July netted a number of suspected burglars and drug dealers, using the flats as their base.

Extra Kirklees staff have been stationed in the flats to maintain calm.

Short-term measures have been put in place to bring order to the unsettled flats.

Meanwhile, council officials have commissioned reports into longer-term solutions.

The continual problems at the tower blocks are losing the council money.

In a report, Kirklees's neighbourhood services manager, Gerry Beamond, said the blocks were not meeting any of the council's aims for housing.

Two serious options for the longer-term future of the buildings are suggested.

The first is to sell the site for housing.

Mr Beamond said this plan would need a great deal of work, but the land was a "very great asset" .

Money from the deal would go into the council's housing budget.

In the medium term, the flats will be used as homes for asylum seekers moved out of council properties being demolished in the Rashcliffe area.

At the moment, 25 asylum seekers are living in the Berry Brow blocks.

Mr Beamond's report says the asylum seekers showed respect and courtesy. Kirklees staff had not reported any incidents involving them.

Mr Beamond's report went on to say that occupation of flats by asylum seekers was a very small part of the use of Holme Park Court and Bishop's Court.

The council would carry on using the flats as a significant part of Kirklees's plans to meet the housing needs of single people, especially those needing outside support.

The council is taking a hard-line stance on misbehaviour by residents of the tower blocks.

A contract for improved CCTV and door locks is out to tender.

Also, the courts have imposed anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) on three residents after legal applications from Kirklees.

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