A FED up tenants group wants a housing company to vet who it lets in to a troubled block of Bewdley flats.

Fears are rife the flats on Springhill Rise, Wribbenhall, will become a major trouble hotspot after a near-fatal stabbing.

Now the Tenants Consultative Committee for Bewdley has appealed to Wyre Forest Community Housing to stamp out alleged drug abuse, drunkenness and noise.

Chairman Julie Morris said: "We are worried that the first block of flats on that road would become as bad as the second when they become empty.

"It is the flats nearer to Damson Way. A lot of the problems are music-related noise and heavy drinking. There are also a lot of comings and goings which are a big concern to the older people.

"Residents are worried that drug taking and dealing is going on."

Miss Morris said residents had been particularly anxious since the June 4 incident where David Hughes, 24, stabbed a man with a kitchen knife after a drinking bout at a Springhill Rise address.

Hughes, who lived on Springhill Rise, was jailed for 10 years at Worcester Crown Court last month.

The TCC's case is supported by Bewdley town councillor Tony Williams, who lives in nearby Queensway.

He said: "There have been drug problems and a stabbing and residents are extremely worried about the type of person that is being put into the area.

"We have to be concerned about the quality of person being put onto the estate."

But help was at hand, suggested Rob Pritchard, Head of Housing at Wyre Forest Community Housing, who said tenants could speak out to change what kind of person was re-housed.

He said a "local lettings policy" was being discussed for flats at Hurcott Road in Kidderminster - the scene of a fatal stabbing in June - a process which could be pursued in Wribbenhall.

"That would involve individuals having to pass a test looking at their background and any criminal record they may have.

"If residents (in Wribbenhall) say we should do something we would say the only way to change things would be a local lettings policy."

Such a policy would have to be approved by Wyre Forest District Council and The Housing Corporation, he said.