 Two homes off Reading's Oxford Road are to be boarded up |
Magistrates have used new powers for the first time to order two houses to be boarded up to prevent them from being used as crack dens. The magistrates in Reading, Berkshire, granted the closure notices following a request from Thames Valley Police under the Anti-social Behaviour Act.
The properties are in Ivydene Road and George Street off the Oxford Road.
A number of crack houses have already been closed down in the area as part of the ongoing Operation Eightfold.
The operation was launched to crack down on prostitution and drug-dealing that has been blighting residents lives in the area.
Earlier this month, a major inquiry into the growing drugs problem was held by civic chiefs.
Last year, the town was identified by the Home Office as a "High Crack Area", one of 37 places which were in need of special help to tackle an influx of drugs and their dealers.
Seventy per cent of the town's burglaries, shoplifting and robberies are thought to be motivated by drug use.
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