A MAJOR new crackdown on thugs and vandals who are tormenting people and wrecking property in the Hythe area is about to be launched.

Councillors will now liaise with police on how to stop nuisance youths causing damage and how to ensure local stores are not selling drink to the under-aged.

They have also pledged never to give up on their mission to get CCTV cameras installed in the village.

The initiative come after members of the parish council were this week presented with a long list of damage to their own facilities and were also told of the problems facing people living in the waterfront area.

One resident who was alarmed at the recent scale of problems said: "People are suffering badly from vandals and abuse and the place is becoming a scrapyard for bicycles that are being thrown down in the Shore Road area. The noise at night reaches a crescendo."

In calling for CCTV, she also told a meeting of the parish amenities committee: "The police are wonderful and they will come down three or four times in an evening, but by the time they get here the children have gone."

The resident cited cases of seven-year-olds who had thrown stones at her window and children as young as nine or ten who were still out on the streets at 10.30pm.

Councillor Graham Parkes said: "We have got to regain control of our streets in a sensitive and remedial way, otherwise our lifestyle will go through the window."

Another former parish chairman Malcolm Wade, described the list of damage. totalling £1,563, to the council's property as "an outrageous catalogue".

The council also heard how at the Clayfields Sports Centre football nets were cut, fencing, windows and a support pole were ruined and glass was left on the all-weather courts.

In answer to calls from residents for CCTV, committee chairman Maureen McLean commented: "It is not just the cost of the cameras, it is having the film and getting someone to monitor it.

"New Forest Council can't afford to supply CCTV cameras, because there isn't enough money available for them."

Councillor George Dawson also referred to the high cost of commissioning cameras, but stressed the need for further talks with the police and for an effort to prevent youngsters from obtaining alcohol from a village centre off-licence.

"If we can establish that these youngsters are obtaining drink from a particular shop, it should be named and shamed.

The One Stop shop at Fairview Parade, for instance, doesn't sell to under-21s and others should be made to follow its example."