Elderly residents concerns after armed police incident at Falkirk high flats

It also sparked renewed calls for changes to the council’s letting policy.

Campaigners say that many elderly residents in the mainly council-owned flats are living in daily fear due to anti-social behaviour.

The incident last Saturday involving specialist firearm officers and at least eight marked vehicles, took place at Corentin Court, Finistere Avenue, Falkirk.

But Sharron McKean, who runs Falkirk District Action Group, says it is just the latest incident to leave elderly tenants of the town’s high rise flats scared and alarmed by anti-social behaviour.

Sharron, whose mum lives in one of the high flats in Callendar Park, says she has been demanding action for years.

For many years, Falkirk Council’s housing policy was to reserve the area’s high rise buildings for people over the age of 60. With communal areas, the flats were kept spotless and residents became part of a tight-knit community.

But a change that saw the age limit lowered to 50 meant that some of the new tenants brought major problems including drug dealing.

Sharron said: “I’m not saying it’s everyone under the age of 60 is causing problems but there is no vetting at all.”

Sharron says she has spent a lot of time in Parkfoot and Belmont flats and has attended meetings in others, including Corentin.

She says the tenants are “dealing with fear on a daily basis” as they come across anti-social behaviour that includes “drug dealing, urinating, fighting and shouting”.

She said: “It’s horrendous what these people are living with – they are terrified.

“I have spoken to an 82-year-old woman who always uses the stairs because she is terrified to get in the lift. Another woman with disabilities sleeps on her sofa every night with her clothes on, incase something happens.

“There was a stabbing in one block and the bloody knife was thrown out a window – there was blood all over the communal area.

“There was also a man in his seventies got punched and thrown out of a lift just last week.”

Sharron wants Falkirk Council to do more to resolve the situation and is calling a public meeting on March 11 to discuss the issue.

A spokesperson for Falkirk Council said: “Our Conflict Resolution Service have been in regular communication with tenants and residents and will continue to work directly with them to offer support whilst liaising with Police Scotland to adopt a co-ordinated approach.

“The service can also support witnesses of antisocial behaviour in a range of ways, this includes communication in a way that suit them best, which can be in person visits, telephone calls and the online reporting tool.

“In order to effectively reduce and resolve antisocial behaviour we implement a range of interventions including warnings, Acceptable Behaviour Agreements and legal action that can include Antisocial Behaviour Orders and eviction action.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were called around 11.30am on Saturday, February 3, to a report of a concern for person in the Finistere Avenue area of Falkirk.

“Officers attended and a 51-year-old woman was arrested and charged.”