A CHARITY boss says work is being done to tackle anti-social behaviour following reports of alcoholics fighting each other with golf clubs outside a homeless centre.

A resident of 35 years, who won’t be named for fear of “certain reprisals”, says anxiety is rising in York Road, in Southend.

People living near HARP’s Bradbury Centre, which provides shelter for those at risk of homelessness, say incidents also include a police car being attacked. They said: “It’s been daily now, continuous for the past few weeks. It’s multiple times in the day.

“Yesterday they were armed with golf clubs and wood. There was a man sitting outside HARP, drinking with a piece of wood in his hand. A short while later a man and a woman turned up.

“The female tried to go at the guy with the piece of wood with a golf club and it just escalates. They all go out and they’re all shouting. It has a big impact on us. I have rheumatoid arthritis and stress can cause flare ups. My door is shut. They’re not bothering me, but it is that drip, drip effect. They should have the resources to manage this behaviour.

“Everyone goes home at 5pm, so nobody is there when any incidents take place. Nobody wants to take responsibility. HARP needs support from the council, and the council’s attitude is ‘we’re paying HARP to take care of it’. It’s buck passing.”

It comes a fortnight after concerns were raised about anti-social behaviour near a HARP hostel in Westcliff Park Drive.

Martin Terry, Southend councillor responsible for community safety, said numbers of city-centre police and community-support officers had been boosted. He said: “There are lots of HMOs down York Road, so I hope the landlords are taking their responsibility. I’ve heard the issues around HARP. People who are alcoholics, or recovering alcoholics, do display bad behaviour at times. I know there are conversations going on with HARP. We must be relentless as a council in having a zero-tolerance approach to this. We’ve got CCTV in York Road, extra police and community-safety officers, so I promise we will do all we can to keep things as safe as possible.”

HARP CEO, Vanessa Hemmings, said: “We recognise some of the issues may be caused by our residents, but there are a large number of HMOs that are unsupervised or managed in the area that HARP has no responsibility for. We can’t solve this issue alone and would like to work closer with the local community and organisations to reduce incidents.”