A DRUG den in a block of Southend flats has been closed after severe issues with antisocial behaviour, drug use and drug dealing.

Earlier this month, the Echo reported how officers from Southend Council, Essex Police and South Essex Homes served a closure notice at 106 Quantock, in Chichester Road.

The flat was issued the order due to a string of reports and evidence of drug activity within the flat, communal hallways and staircases.

Last week, the council was successful in securing a closure order under the Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Martin Terry, councillor responsible for community safety and customer contact, said: “It is great to see positive action with the closure order placed on this property.

“We have received many complaints about drug-dealing and drug use from concerned residents, and this outcome will be very much welcomed by residents.

“We are dedicated to keeping our residents safe and well, and when residents do not feel safe in their own homes, appropriate action must be taken.

“If anyone has any information regarding the sale of drugs, please contact Essex Police by calling 101.”

The closure order lasts three months and means only the council, police and South Essex Homes officers can enter the property in this time.

The tenant is excluded from the property during this period.

While the property is closed, an application for possession action will be sought.

Anyone seen entering the property can be arrested and faces up to 51 weeks in prison, and unlimited fine or both.

One relative of a Quantock resident said: “Thank God for that. “Lives have been made hell over months. Finally, people might get a bit of peace and the worry about what will happen next will hopefully ease.”

After serving the notice, Essex Police’s Operation Raptor team tweeted: “Notice of intended court action has been served by South Essex Homes and Southend Council on a tenant within Quantock flats. The property is linked to class A drug use and antisocial behaviour.”

The block of of flats has proved controversial and has regularly been linked to crime in the past.

In September last year a vulnerable person was saved from exploitation after a court order banned people from a different flat.

Again, the property had been linked to drugs and drug-dealing and police and the council served the closure order on the property in a bid to safeguard the resident.