A MAN is due to appear in court today (Wednesday, May 8) charged with breaching a closure order placed on a property in Coleford.

Police said they had raided the premises in Sunny Bank and seized a car and cash after numerous reports of drug use, drug dealing and anti-social behaviour at the address, and obtained a closure order from magistrates on Friday, April 26.

Louis Bloomfield, 39, of Wyesham Avenue in Monmouth was arrested on Saturday (May 4) and later charged with entering a premises in contravention of a closure order and criminal damage.

Police raided the property last month after making numerous visits to it in response to reports of criminal activity. A subsequent application by the Forest of Dean Neighbourhood Policing Team to Gloucester County Court to close the property down was granted.

Sergeant Mark Burns said: “For some time we have been receiving calls from concerned members of the public about activities at this address.

“We had attended numerous times and last week executed a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act where a quantity of cash and a vehicle was seized.”

A Gloucestershire Police spokesperson said the magistrates hearing the case felt that the evidence collected by local officers justified the closure order, which is a fast, flexible power used to protect victims and communities by quickly closing premises that are causing nuisance or disorder.

Orders are designed to tackle serious and persistent forms of anti-social behaviour and close a property and prevent access for a period of three months, with a possible extension to six months.

Under this specific order, only a “small number” of designated people can enter the property.

“Officers hope that by obtaining and enforcing the order they will send a clear message to Coleford residents that they take the issues seriously,” said the spokesperson.

Anyone with information about any breach should call 101 or report it online at www.gloucestershire.police.uk