FRUSTRATED Webheath residents are calling for an emergency accommodation unit for youngsters to be closed down, claiming it is making their lives a misery.

Residents claim children staying at the Downsell Road unit are continually noisy, threatening, abusive, causing trouble and banging windows and fences.

They said the police were always being called to incidents and the problems were getting worse.

One elderly resident, who does not want to be named, moved to a nearby bungalow 14 months ago and has not had a decent night's sleep since.

She said: "It is so stupid to have such a place where there are old people living. It's not fair to the old people. We can never rest. We want it closed down."

Resident Geoff Holden, 67, said local younger children had been too frightened to use a nearby play area because they had been threatened and were frightened by people staying at the unit.

He said: "The police are there every other day and they are there for four to six hours with the statements they have to take."

Worcestershire County Council's residential services manager Gloria Armitage said: "Some of the children we look after would much rather be in their own family environment and their frustration often comes out through challenging behaviour.

"It is not only vital but a good practice that looked-after children are placed within the community to ensure they feel included in society so they can live as normal lives as they can and not feel rejected by everybody.

"A meeting has been held with residents near to the unit to discuss any problems and look at possible solutions. Some of the complaints were not aired at the last meeting on September 18, when a number of measures were suggested. However we're more than happy to meet again to discuss any other issues and indeed had agreed to meet in three months' time to see if the proposals were paying off."