A resident who lives near the Joshua Close reserve told has told Fairfax Media that people in the neighbourhood were fed up with late night antics involving cars and motorbikes on the land and garbage and drug paraphernalia being dumped at the site.

The resident spoke out on the condition that she not be identified.

She described the terrible state of the reserve – where a car was also recently dumped and set on fire.

“They’re in cars on motorbikes,” she said. 

"People walk up to them sitting in their cars and I’m sure they’re exchanging drugs and money. 

“I’m forever picking up bongs and their McDonald’s rubbish.

“They’re racing cars, doing burnouts.”

It’s become so bad that the resident can’t sleep in the bedroom at the back of her house – and has had to bunk down at the front of her home, just to get some rest.

Maitland City Council is looking at ways to restrict access to the reserve and the police have been tipped off to the regular anti-social behaviour.

West ward councillor Henry Meskauskas has been vocal in his strong representation of the residents, who simply want peace restored to the area.

He has contacted police in an effort to bring order back to the western suburbs neighbourhood.

Anti-social behaviour comes in different forms and different levels of severity. 

The things taking place at the Joshua Close reserve – seemingly on a nightly basis – appear to rate fairly high on the scale.

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who’d be willing to move into a neighbourhood if they knew this sort of chaos was a regular occurrence. 

People who pay rent or a mortgage have a right to sleep at night without being disturbed by trouble-makers causing commotion out in the open.

They also have a right to live without the fear of danger that comes with high-speed hooning in cars and on motorbikes near their homes – let alone the risk of somebody sparking a large fire because they’ve decided to torch a car. Hopefully residents, council and police can continue to work together to address the situation before it gets out of hand any further.