Residents upset by drug takers loitering in stairwells and years of council neglect are fighting to get their estate cleaned up.

Lime Trees estate tenants association is holding an emergency meeting tomorrow (June 30) to demand that Ealing Council address the problem.

Ruth Goldsborough, a committee member and former chairwoman of the association, said: 'This estate has suffered neglect for many, many years.

'It appears that the council is always able to help other areas but Lime Trees is simply forgotten.'

Police confirm youths taking drugs congregate in stairwells of various blocks around the estate. As they are chased out of one, they simply move into the next block and the tenants association is demanding security be fitted to keep the youths out.

Mrs Goldsborough added: 'These people can be very frightening for residents. It is simply unacceptable that they have to put up with walking past them.' The association believes the drug taking is encouraged because the council's neglect has made the estate appear uncared for.

She said: 'It takes ages for grass to be mown. The main path was rutted and full of weeds. Eventually, workmen came, but they did such a poor job the weeds are growing back again. A wildlife area, created with the help of local schoolchildren, has become overgrown.'

An Ealing Council spokesman said no reports of drug taking or dealing had been made to the council. He said entry phones were fitted in most of the estate's blocks, and were as regularly repaired as they were vandalised. However, he admitted a few blocks were without entry phones and this was being investigated.

'Also there have been no reports of rutted paths, however a surveyor is being sent to inspect them,' he said. 'And new tarmac is being laid on paths in Lime Trees Park shortly.'

The tenants meeting is in the Scout Hut in Loughton Road at 7.30pm.