Anxious residents in council owned flats for older people are facing growing harassment from teenagers who 'take over' the block, smoking cannabis on the stairwell and vandalising the building.

Residents who live in the flats at the Greenway, St Andrews Way, Cippenham are over 60 and have fobs to let themselves into the front entrance.

But one man, who has a friend in his 70s living in the flats, said that teenagers find it easy to scale the wall round the back of the flats and can simply in through the back entrance and let their friends in from the inside.

He said: "You can smell the cannabis. I think most of them live locally and probably would not want their parents to know what they got up to. Some are tall and its is frightening for residents to find a 6ft 2ins tall man standing at the top of the stairs who should not be there.

"Last week the glass was shattered and there was glass all over the stairs. The notice board has been ripped off.

"We need proper security there before something serious happens."

He said there was a growing fear that a situation could develop where serious drug dealers might 'take over' a vulnerable elderly residents' flat.

The residents would like to see a more up to date security system including CCTV cameras.

They have regularly called police and council officers.

This week the council issued a statement, saying: “We understand the concerns of residents at the Greenway and their frustration at the antisocial behaviour happening in the area. We have visited them this week to discuss their concerns and find out what is happening in more detail and will be looking at working with them closely to decide on any actions we can take which might alleviate the issues they are suffering.”