An Ivybridge woman is at her wits’ end after enduring years of anti-social behaviour outside her home in the centre of town.

Lisa Hulland, 55, says groups of rowdy youths gathering just metres from her front door outside The Watermark venue have been making life unbearable.

The situation reached a low point in June during the Euros, when England played Denmark. Some 40 youths gathered outside and reportedly got drunk listening to loud music, shouting and kicking a football repeatedly on a nearby wall before urinating in the venue’s doorway.

Ms Hulland, who works from home, explained her plight during this week’s council meeting, saying the area outside The Watermark building had become “an absolute magnet” for anti-social behaviour.

“I really lost my rag on the 20th June – that was the night that broke my back. It was bedlam. I called the police (but) nothing happened, and I don’t want to be out there sorting it out myself. (The area’s) just drowning in mess,” she told councillors.

Ms Hulland said having fixed benches outside the council-owned venue only serves to encourage groups of people to gather late at night.

In a desperate move, she called on the local authority to remove the bench closest to her house as an interim solution.

“That's all we're asking. They used to take them out in the morning and bring bring them back in at night,” she said.

Cllr Sara Hladjik offered words of support, saying that anti-social behaviour “was particularly bad throughout Ivybridge” on the night of the match.

The issue is due to be discussed at a forthcoming committee meeting, while council sources assured this reporter that the police would increase their presence around the area during key hours.

Alison Hernandez, Devon & Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner, recently told this paper that anti-social behaviour was one of the county’s biggest crime-related problems.

However, she also called on councils to become more pro-active, saying that many of the incidents should be tackled by the local authorities.

According to the latest police data for Ivybridge, anti-social behaviour incidents accounted for 10 out of the 57 crimes that were reported in May (the most recent figure), ranking second after violent and sexual offences.