A FLAT in Poole town centre that has been blighted by nuisance and disorder will remain closed following a new court order.

BCP Council has been dealing with issues relating to number 211 Orchard Plaza in the High Street for 12 months.

The local authority successfully secured closure orders and subsequent extensions including in October 2019 and June of this year.

However, breaches of conditions persisted over the summer months, so officers were back at Poole Magistrates' Court to apply for a three-month extension to the existing closure order.

Magistrates granted the order following a hearing on Wednesday, September 23.

A BCP Council spokesperson said: "We normally only issue closures orders as last resort, when other interventions have not led to changes in behaviour.

"In this instance we are aware that the conditions of the previous closure order have been breached on a number of occasions. We have therefore successfully pursued a three month closure order extension to give more relief to the other occupants of the building.

"We believe this is an appropriate response and will continue to work closely with Dorset Police to address issues around anti-social behaviour and deal robustly with individuals or groups whose actions at their address have a detrimental effect on the local community.”

Closure orders have been implemented at a number of addresses in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area over recent years. They are given under section 80 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act and section 76 Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act of 2014.

The Act gives local authorities fast, flexible power that can be used to protect communities by quickly closing premises that are causing nuisance to members of the public or disorder if they are not closed.

In June, when the order on the property in question was previously extended, Cllr Lewis Allison said it followed the failure of the individual concerned to comply with a previous partial-closure order and continued "serious anti-social behaviour issues.