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CRIME has increased by 200 per cent in the area near Lancing's controversial cannabis cafe since it opened 18 months ago, Adur councillors were told.
Adur police said there had been 105 crimes reported in the Freshbrook Road area since the cafe opening with 66 of those drug related and 28 incidents of anti-social behaviour. This was a 200 per cent increase in crime.
Adur council's planning committee were given the figures as they decided whether to take enforcement action against the cafe for breaching planning regulations.
The building has survived six raids by Adur police including one using a two-tonne tractors which demolished a window and a wall.
Adur District Council says the fortifications at the property - razor wire and concrete filled tyres - do not have planning permission and claim it has undergone an unauthorised "change of use" from offices into a cafe.
Adur councillor Peter Metcalfe said: "This sound more like Beirut than a backwater of Lancing. I can understand residents' concerns."
But fellow councillor Gavin Ayling said the security measures had been put up by the cafe operators to defend themselves from the police raids.
"These have been unusual considering they have not even committed a crime."
Adur councillor Pat Beresford said: "We have to remind ourselves that we would never have approved a change of use for this as it stands and we never have permitted any changes to the building."
There was a unanimous vote for enforcement action to be taken with the owners being ordered to stop using the building as a meeting place and to remove the razor wire and concrete filled tyres within two months.
Attached image(s)
Adur police said there had been 105 crimes reported in the Freshbrook Road area since the cafe opening with 66 of those drug related and 28 incidents of anti-social behaviour. This was a 200 per cent increase in crime.
Adur council's planning committee were given the figures as they decided whether to take enforcement action against the cafe for breaching planning regulations.
The building has survived six raids by Adur police including one using a two-tonne tractors which demolished a window and a wall.
Adur District Council says the fortifications at the property - razor wire and concrete filled tyres - do not have planning permission and claim it has undergone an unauthorised "change of use" from offices into a cafe.
Adur councillor Peter Metcalfe said: "This sound more like Beirut than a backwater of Lancing. I can understand residents' concerns."
But fellow councillor Gavin Ayling said the security measures had been put up by the cafe operators to defend themselves from the police raids.
"These have been unusual considering they have not even committed a crime."
Adur councillor Pat Beresford said: "We have to remind ourselves that we would never have approved a change of use for this as it stands and we never have permitted any changes to the building."
There was a unanimous vote for enforcement action to be taken with the owners being ordered to stop using the building as a meeting place and to remove the razor wire and concrete filled tyres within two months.
Attached image(s)
