THE Home Office looks set to intervene in the long-running stalemate between residents and police and the operators of Lancing's cannabis café.
East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton asked the government to step when speaking during Home Office Questions, on Monday, February 25.
Mr Loughton said the café was the source of great annoyance for people living nearby, and described it as a blight on his constituency.
He added: "It acts as a magnet for all sorts of low life coming into Lancing.
"Despite the best endeavours of the police, who have raided the place five times, no prosecution has been brought to close it down.
"It is heavily fortified, well beyond what is required for a legitimate café, and a constantly fired furnace is used to burn the evidence the minute any police come in."
Extra securityThe café is surrounded by concrete-filled tyres and razorwire, with a fortified height-restriction barrier at the entrance to the site, in Freshbrook Road, Lancing.
CCTV cameras are fixed to the outside of the building, which has a six-inch thick steel reinforced front door and window bars.
Mr Loughton said he had written to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and asked Under Secretary of State at the Home Office, Vernon Coaker MP, what help the government could offer.
Describing the situation as deplorable, Mr Coaker said: "I have not heard of anything quite as bad as that with respect to cannabis cafés."
He added: "We need to ensure that we nip the situation in the bud, so that people see the serious consequences of such practice, and so that it does not spread anywhere else in the country."
The next stepsSpeaking on Tuesday, February 26, Mr Loughton said: "I wrote to the Home Secretary on this matter last week and I am delighted that they are taking the concerns of my constituents seriously.
"The minister has promised to look into the situation and will contact my office shortly to discuss what our next steps should be in our campaign against the owners of the café who seem to think they are above the law of our country."
What do you think?
Should the Home Office intervene?
Has the café "blighted" the area?
Would you support it remaining as it is?
Share your views, comment in the space below or:
Email: letters@worthingherald.co.ukWrite to: Worthing Herald, Cannon House, Chatsworth Road, Worthing, BN11 1NA.
Contact us online: www.worthingherald.co.uk/contactus.aspxClick here to see video from the fifth raid on the caféClick here to see video from the fourth raid on the café when a tractor tore down a wall.The full article contains 456 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
