Britons live in fear of yobs

MORE than a million Britons have considered moving to a new home in the past year because they are frightened of teenage gangs roaming their neighbourhood, a major study has discovered.

The true extent of the so-called ned culture is laid bare in a report that found 1.5 million Britons said they had thought about moving due to violent and aggressive youths. Some 1.7 million said they stayed behind locked doors at night to avoid confrontations with youths.

The survey, conducted by left-wing think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), also found that four out of 10 adults would not step in to stop a gang of teenagers vandalising a bus shelter, for fear they would be attacked.

The IPPR has now claimed Britain is in the grip of "paedophobia", with whole communities "in danger of becoming fearful" of their own children. And it also offers disturbing evidence that Scotland is raising a Lord Of The Flies generation of teenagers who prefer to spend more time hanging out with their friends than with their families.

Almost six out of 10 of all 15-year-old Scottish boys - and 48% of the nation's girls - admit to spending time with friends on four or more evenings a week. The figure is higher than anywhere else in the developed world, except Ukraine.

The report, 'Freedom's Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World', suggests Britons are less likely to intervene than adults in other countries if they see young yobs committing anti-social behaviour.

But it also warns that a lack of supervision of teenagers in communities where adults do not know their neighbours and where teenage groups go unsupervised on the street has increased the risk of youth crime and violence.

The document, to be published at a national launch next month, shows that young people who claim not to spend time with their parents commit more anti-social behaviour.

In an attempt to force a radical change in the developing yob culture, the IPPR calls on the government to fund alternative pursuits to keep youngsters off the streets. IPPR researchers want ministers to set up sport, art and drama clubs which children would have to attend on a compulsory basis - or their parents would face a fine.

A series of high-profile attacks and murders on law-abiding residents standing up to teenage gangs in their community has helped to create a climate of fear among adults about intervening in the face of teenage thuggery.

But the IPPR also points to the collapse in traditional communities and families for the growing gulf between the younger generation and adults.

The 200-page report analyses adult attitudes to children across Europe and suggests Britons are more fearful than their continental counterparts.

And it warns that a lack of adult supervision of teenagers roaming streets where adults do not know their neighbours has "increased the risk of youth crime and violence".

IPPR director Nick Pearce said: "In the past, local parents tended to look out for children in a community, deciding what behaviour was appropriate, how it should be dealt with and supporting each other in doing so. In closer-knit communities, adults supervised their neighbours' children.

"These days, adults tend to turn a blind eye or cross over the road rather than intervene in the discipline of another person's child, often because they fear they might be attacked."

While 79% of Britons blamed most anti-social behaviour on youngsters, only 58% of French or 62% of Italians thought the same. But while 50% of Italians would step in to stop a gang of 14-year-old boys from vandalising a bus shelter, only 39% of Britons would do the same.

Some 39% said they would walk away for fear of being physically attacked, 14% were scared of later reprisals and 12% were worried they would be verbally abused. Confronted with two or three teenagers vandalising cars, one in three adult Britons said they would probably or definitely not ask them to stop, but more than half said they would or might intervene.

Almost 70% would definitely step in if they saw two teenagers abusing or harassing a pensioner and 22% said they "probably" would say something, but 9% said they might not or definitely would not come to the person's aid. And while just over half of all Britons would tell rowdy youths outside their home to be quiet, more than a third would stay silent.

The report will recommend that every secondary school pupil is offered at least two hours a week of "structured activities". This would help keep children off the streets and give them a focus, rather than providing youth clubs with little on offer to entertain teenagers.

Martial arts, drama and sports should be provided during extended school hours, from 8am to 6pm on weeknights.

Parents who did not ensure their children attended classes could be fined - in the same way they are now punished for allowing their child to be a persistent truant.

Currently, only one in four young people have access to these sorts of activities, but there are 11,095 youth clubs in Britain.