LONG-suffering residents in Southend town centre tower blocks say they are sick of climbing over drunks, drug addicts and homeless people in stairwells.

They claims security doors in the Queensway Estate have been damaged on a daily over the last 18 months.

Mike Smith, who runs the I Love Queensway Estate Facebook page and lives in the Malvern block, said: “Residents are getting sick and tired of the constant damage being caused to our doors by those who want to gain access to the tower blocks on Queensway Estate.

“It’s been going on for 18 months. It’s ridiculous and must be costing so much money. They must repair the doors in our block twice a week. I know it’s the same in the other blocks and the guy that fixes them just goes around almost every day repairing the doors.”

The 71-year-old added: “If you go down the stairways of all four of the blocks, you are likely to encounter homeless people smoking marijuana on the stairs, eating takeaways, defecating or sleeping.

“This is getting to the point where residents are becoming frustrated that nothing is being done to stop this happening.

”There is one woman who has been living on the tenth floor for two years now."

Janine Armitage, 38, who also lives in the Malvern flats, run by South Essex Homes, added: “ It does cause a lot of problems for residents due to drug takers on the stairs and homeless people settling down for the night in the communal areas.

“I am classed as a vulnerable person due to mental health issues and physical health problems.

“This sort of thing [needs to be addressed] as a matter of urgency. It costs £150 upwards a time to repair the doors; they should be looking at a far stronger option and better CCTV coverage around the areas that undesirable people congregate.”

A spokeswoman for South Essex Homes, said the association is aware of the issues and trying to combat them.

She said: “We can confirm the door at Malvern has now been fixed, however, there has been a pattern of it being repeatedly vandalised and forced open.

“Our guard patrol routinely visit the block every evening and also attend during the day if a report has been made of a rough sleeper. Rough sleepers are reported via the StreetLink app, are asked to leave the premises and encouraged to seek help from HARP. Our patrols also wear body worn cameras and can record incidents that may later be used as evidence.”