'˜It's West Hill, not The Bronx'

But he claims the level of anti-social behaviour on the estate is the worst he has ever known.

He says a number of rowdy teenagers are making life miserable by causing criminal damage, starting fires, shouting at and intimidating pensioners and carrying weapons.

“It is as bad as I have known it and I have lived here all my life,” said Cllr Dealtry. “I’m getting reports from getting reports from people all the time saying they don’t want to go out, and it’s not just the elderly – younger people are getting grief too.

“There are gangs going round and causing trouble.

“This is not the Bronx in New York, this is West Hill in Bridlington, and we can’t allow mob culture to start eating into the fabric of our society.”

The estate, known affectionately as Corned Beef Island by locals, has around 1,000 homes.

Cllr Dealtry said he had noticed a decreasing police presence in the area since the estate’s community centre closed.

We need more bobbies on the streets,” he urged. “I have no problems with the police we have, but we need more.”

He said he wanted police and East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s anti-social behaviour team to work to make the estate a safer place.

“I love West Hill, it’s my manor,” said Cllr Dealtry, who has been mayor of Bridlington twice. “There has always been a good community spirit here but in the last year or two, things have been steadily getting worse.

“We have got to stop the rot. It is manageable.”

He was quick to point out that the majority of youngsters on West Hill are well-behaved and a credit to the estate, but he is worried about what he called The Fagin Effect, with some of the younger children being influenced by the troublemakers.

Cllr Dealtry said: “There are lots of lovely kids on the estate and most of the parents are fantastic.

“West Hill is fantastic but we have this group who are dragging it down.

“It’s only a handful of proper trouble-causers but others are being dragged into it.

“The youngsters say there is nothing for them to do, but that is not an excuse.

“Everyone is dreading the school holidays because they know they will cause havoc.

“We want our community back. We want West Hill to be a safe place to live and bring our children up in.

“We must take a stand and it needs to be now.”