THE antisocial behaviour of a small core of troublemakers looks set to destroy a programme of activity which has attracted more than 3,000 people - many of them young - to Alton Community Centre over the past 12 months. The suggested solution - a range of outside CCTV cameras backed by a determination to prosecute, and supported by more lighting in the car park and adjoining alleyways. But it will come at a price - while the cameras alone are expected to cost in the region of £4,000 the damage to customer confidence is unquantifiable. Wednesday's open "Mic Nights" are amongst the first to fall victim to escalating intimidation and destructive bad manners dished out by a group of youngsters who are said to be running riot, threatening other centre users and causing criminal damage which is costing thousands of pounds to put right. Centre manager Richard Swainston said: "It's almost like being under siege. The activities of the majority are being severely curtailed due to a small minority and it's got to stop." Peter Legg, who runs the music events, is deeply unhappy about having to call a halt to the open mic sessions. Having taken over the franchise on the Community Centre bar, he and wife, Ysanne, have staged a range of musical activities designed to attract young people; amongst them the Battle of the Bands which featured eight bands and attracted an audience of over 250 to last month's grand finale. Most popular are open mic nights which have been running for over a year and allow young people to turn up and listen or play, free of charge and in front of a live audience. "The young people who attend are well behaved, polite and enthusiastic about their music. We have so many talented young rock musicians in and around Alton and we want to give them the chance to perform. "But every Wednesday the youngsters who attend Open Mic have to run the gauntlet of yobs in the carpark who threaten and physically abuse them. This is definitely a case of the minority spoiling something for the majority," said Mr Legg who spoke of young music lovers being "kicked, punched, verbally abused and even threatened with a knife". "I can understand why they are reluctant to bring their instruments and come to open mic nights," he said. "They are just too vulnerable." So bad has the problem become that Peter Legg has felt compelled to call a halt until further notice. "I have been spending my Wednesday nights policing the foyer to prevent the yobs coming into the centre when what I would rather be doing is helping the youngsters to enjoy their music. I am just not enjoying it any more. "The police have been very understanding and helpful and have increased their patrols for the past few weeks but the yobs just disperse while the police are around and come back when they have gone," said Peter Legg. Hampshire County Youth Service, whose officers run the Nexus Youth Club, are experiencing problems of their own. According to Richard Swainston, the club, which operates from its own cafe area in the community centre, currently attracts around 25 young people but looks to be fighting a losing battle with difficulties in retaining staff and keeping a lid on wilful damage. "Closed until further notice," Mr Swainston said after Nexus has recently suffered broken windows, railings being smashed in the courtyard and young people "rampaging through the building and writing on the walls". He spoke of £250 being spent on a polycarbonate window "because we can't keep replacing the glass" and of youngsters intimidating older centre users who feel they have to leave en masse in order to "run the gauntlet of threatening behaviour in the car park". Mr Swainston said that one lad had even been "caught in the act" as he ripped an internal camera off the wall. "We have accepted quite a lot of damage over the past year as the result of increased provision for young people but have been determined to stick with it for the benefit of the majority. "We keep trying to find out what the troublemakers want and to integrate them into what we are doing, but they say they hate the music and appear not to want to join in." According to Mr Swainston, the community centre car park is too dark and the alleyways - a feature of Alton - can be very intimidating. "They are not well lit and are places where people can loiter unseen," he said. The Alton Community Association is said to be looking at the prospect of spending £4,000 on outside cameras and "people should know that we will will use them to support prosecutions," said Mr Swainston. He would like to see the town pooling resources to build a network of cameras to help the police in identifying offenders and bringing them to justice. "Instead of installing a £0.5 million state-of- the-art CCTV system in town, I am sure the shops and businesses could work together to build a comprehensive network at minimal cost, " said Mr Swainston. In urging action before the problem gets "completely out of hand", Mr Swainston warned: "This is an escalating problem throughout the town and there are some real issues that need dealing with. If we let these trouble makers get away with it a lot of perfectly well behaved young people will lose out."
