Once 'lovely' street now has yobs setting fire to homes 'nearly every day'
Neighbours on a once sleepy street say it's become hell as yobs smash furniture and are setting things on fire almost every night.
Residents on Bushway Close - a small cul-de-sac in Dudley, West Midlands - say their homes have become a magnet for vandals.
Abandoned bungalows are regularly having their windows smashed in and set on fire, many of which have been left boarded up for months.
People on the street have branded the situation "disgusting", with one revealing that fire services were being called out "nearly every day" at the cost of the taxpayer.
"The kids and fires, nothing is being done about it," one woman told Black Country Live.
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The street was once sleepy and well looked after"They (the bungalows) have been empty for months and months. The council keep coming out and boarding them up.
"But they (youths) keep getting back in again. A lot of the bungalows are still furnished.
"A lot (of the kids) are going and smashing the furniture in the street."
The bungalows were vacated after being earmarked for demolition over problems with the ground, with plans to build new social housing on the site.
But residents on the street say the empty properties - the last residents of which moved out last year - have been attracting criminals and arsonists.
The street has become a haven for vandalsIn total, around 19 bungalows currently sit abandoned over the close and another adjoining street.
One pensioner branded the situation "disgusting".
"Really, it is," she said.
"They need to knock them down as soon as possible."
Pointing to a hole in a fence in the alleyway leading to a garden of one empty bungalow, she said: "My friend used to live there, that has been done. They should bulldoze the lot."
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A bungalow opposite also had a hole in its back garden fence, where someone may have forced entry, and another gate behind it was also broken.
Vandals have destroyed the fences and smashed windows"Each of the bungalows featured white metal covers placed over the doors and grey barriers covered the windows.
"The gardens were overgrown, some filled with rubbish, while others still had TV satellites still fixed to the walls outside.
West Midlands Fire Service said meanwhile it had been experiencing a "high number of arson fires in the void bungalows".
Cllr John Martin admitted the empty homes were being "subjected to vandalism and antisocial-behaviour".
"Some young people, a minority, do occasionally break into them and set fires. We had one a few days ago," he said.
Life on the street has become miserable for residents since the bungalows were vacatedHe added: "I think the last tenants were moved out late last year, some time. A lot of the tenants have been there for a long time, they were quite elderly.
"It was a lovely street, it was a very pleasant, quiet little cul-de-sac. It was a nice community there, very peaceful, very quiet."
In response to the complaints, Cllr Laura Taylor-Childs, cabinet member elect for housing and communities, said: "Some of the bungalows have been vacant since 2018 due to issues with differential movement on site, with floor levels in many of the properties varying by around 50mm, and occasionally more.
"We have previously undertaken some repairs but with such slippage, this is not a long-term solution so the decision was taken in June 2018 to demolish pairs of bungalows as they became vacant while maintaining those still in use.
"There are now only two properties which are still tenanted, but we anticipate that as tenants move on these will also be demolished.
"We intend to secure and demolish all unused bungalows. The land will remain in council ownership and decisions about the site will be made in due course."
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