IT is a picture all too familiar to many Huddersfield residents. Gangs of youths, hanging about on street corners well into the evenings.
No direct threat but always a fear.
That's one side of it.
Another is the aftermath of the gangs causing major problems - vandalism, arson, violence and crime.
Despite the best efforts of police community constables, local councillors and residents, that has been the sad case for Lowerhouses.
Many admit: the problems have spiralled out of control.
That has been the spur for Huddersfield Police to liaise with Kirklees Council and with local residents and pledge to take direct action in Lowerhouses.
A plea for action from people who have lived many, many years in the area, less than two miles from Huddersfield town centre, has prompted the town's first-ever "curfew order" to be issued by the police.
It came into force last night and in its simplest terms, enables police to clear groups of youths off the streets.
Police officers who believe that groups congregating outside the local shop or around boarded-up council houses could be troublemakers can move them on.
It's tough action but it is action police and residents believe has been made inevitable.
A series of problems have hit the Lowerhouses, Longley and Ashenhurst areas in recent months.
The problems got so bad for staff at Longley riding stables, which have been in existence from more than two centuries, that they had to shut down.
Horses and ponies were attacked and the final straw came when vandals and arsonists started fires in barns filled with hay.
It was a real blow to the many youngsters who had used the stables for years - and, in particular, to the Riding For The Disabled group who had held lessons there for youngsters very much in need of help.
Houses in both Fanny Moor Crescent, Fanny Moor Road and Hall Cross Road are boarded up; ugly steel panels cover windows to protect them.
Youngsters - some no more than eight or nine years old - race around on playing fields on high-powered quadbikes and motorbikes.
And as local councillor Julie Stewart-Turner sadly admits: "The community spirit in the area is being destroyed".
She has been closeley involved with residents who have sought to ease the problems.
Council teams have worked to improve many houses and more schemes are planned, but now residents lock themselves in their refurbished homes, afraid to venture out.
Clr Stewart-Turner said: "We have arranged diversion activities for the young to give them something to do and set up projects to try and help many people.
"But the problems have simply got worse and worse.
"The residents and I approached Chief Supt Barry South to ask for help and he has decided to use the new powers that police now have.
"We do not know if the curfew idea will work but we have to give it a try.
"The nasty, violent anti-social behaviour has had a massive impact on the whole area.
"It is affecting the health of the community and the lives of so many people".
The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 has given police extra powers to move on teenagers who cause problems with abuse, bad behaviour, fear and intimidation.
The Lowerhouses order is the first in the town.
The three-month pilot scheme will be enforced in streets where people's lives have been blighted by yobs.
Under the new legislation, police and police community support officers have sweeping powers to move on unruly youngsters - and if they refuse to go they can be arrested.
The bulk of the problems are on the council estates in the centre of Lowerhouses but other roads affected by the new law include King's Mill Lane, Dog Kennel Bank, Lowerhouses Lane, Jackroyd Lane and Newsome Road.
The new scheme started last night and will run for three months.
Local people have welcomed the moves.
One resident said: "I am sure this estate does have some very decent residents.
"But the fact remains some of the houses are in a terrible state, with wrecked cars outside and the majority of gardens and hedges are in severe neglect.
"Sadly the Lowerhouses estate is a blot on the landscape."
