OUTRAGED families have launched a petition about a proposed needle exchange outside their homes.

They fear drug addicts will be drawn to the car park outside the tower blocks in Coleman Street, Southend, if a van is set up there for addicts.

Leaflets were sent round the blocks on Tuesday by South Essex Homes, giving them seven days to voice their objections.

The van would allow drug addicts to swap used needles for clean ones to try to prevent infections being passed on. It could be there as soon as June 7, despite the area being full of young children.

Paul Mansfield, 27, who lives in Coleman Street, was so incensed he decided to set up the petition.

He said: “The police have been working hard to rid the estate of drug dealers and associated problems.

“Inviting drug users from outside the area to enter the estate on a regular basis only serves to set back the work already done, and will surely encourage the dealers back.

“Many families have children on the estate and regularly use the car park to go to and from the shops, school and playgrounds, and get to their cars.”

He has proposed the car park outside the Civic Centre, in Victoria Avenue, as a more suitable site, rather than in a residential area.

Labour ward councillor David Norman said: “We all obviously recognise the needle swap vans play a very important role in promoting public health, particularly in relation to hepatitis and HIV.

“However, setting such a van up on the car park outside the flats will inevitably bring a number of additional drug users into an area that already has its own social problems, and with the addicts possibly more dealers.”

However, Sarah Lander, service improvement manager at South Essex Homes, said this was only a proposal at the moment.

She added: “We would always want to check our residents are happy with it first.”