ANGRY about the lack of security in their council-owned flats, a group of residents from Chiltern Place, Orford have decided to speak out.

With no means to prevent access to non-residents, the tenants say they have found themselves subjected to frequent unwanted attention.

The final straw came on January 6 following a disturbance by a group of teenagers who were drinking on the premises. On asking them to leave, resident Daniel Simpson received a blow to the back of his head by a thrown glass bottle - the injury required four stitches. A 17-year-old was subsequently arrested then bailed without charge.

Despite regularly requesting tighter security from Golden Gates Housing, the tenants say they feel that they have received no realistic resolution.

Contacting Warrington North MP Helen Jones for help last year, she worked as a bridge between tenants, senior police officers and the chief executive of the borough council.

Devising a plan of action with Golden Gates Housing into the work that was to be done on the area, Mrs Jones sent a letter to the affected residents in September 2007 informing them of the outcome.

The letter stated the council's desire to install secure entry systems to Chiltern Place. But five months on the residents say they are still waiting.

Neil Stacey, who has lived in Chiltern Place for more than eight years, said: "I'm not going to let every incident affect me because if I did I would become agraphobic."

Residents say that a secure entry and increased policing would help to eliminate some of the trouble they are facing.

Mrs Jones, said: "The borough council did not take the matters raised by local people seriously enough to start with and their lack of action since our walk-about shows that they are still not taking people's concerns seriously.

She added: "If officers from the council and Golden Gates Housing lived in the area or the problems were occurring in Appleton they would be being tackled more proactively. The council should be firmly on the side of law abiding tenants, not the law breakers."

Peter Mercer, chief executive of Golden Gates Housing, said: "The ultimate solution would be to put entry phones in the building but we would have to consider putting them all the way up and on Toll Bar Road as well. We would have to look at their needs on the whole but we work on an annual budget and that has been taken into account.

He added: "When people are suffering like this I am happy to arrange a meeting with them."