From sandy haven to stag party hell

The problem on the Sandbanks peninsula is so severe the local MP fears angry residents will 'take the law into their own hands'.

The problem on the Sandbanks peninsula is so severe the local MP fears angry residents will 'take the law into their own hands'.

Published Apr 10, 2014

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London - It is the exclusive seaside enclave where the well-known rub shoulders with the well-heeled.

But the millionaire residents of Sandbanks are having their tranquil existence ruined by some unwelcome visitors.

The area has become an unlikely magnet for raucous stag and hen groups.

Locals have complained of prostitutes, blow-up dolls strewn across front gardens and late-night parties. They have even seen a naked butler serving drinks in the afternoon sunshine.

Residents say groups of men and women are hiring out large exclusive properties, which can take up to 50 people, for around £1 000 a night. They claim they live in fear of sunny weekends and are forced to either go away or stay indoors.

Proximity to the night clubs of Bournemouth is thought to have made the houses, which cost as much as £10-million to buy, an attractive option for the groups’ accommodation.

The problem on the Sandbanks peninsula is so severe the local MP fears angry residents will “take the law into their own hands”.

Around 30 homeowners from Sandbanks and the neighbouring Dorset suburbs of Canford Cliffs and Branksome Park went to Westminster to brief their MP, Robert Syms, on the problem. Resident Jen Cameron said: “In the last few years we have had an onslaught of noise and alcohol-fuelled behaviour at weekends.

“It’s screaming and shouting, kicking things over, emptying hundreds of glass bottles into the recycling bin and playing football at 3am.”

Mrs Cameron, 35, and husband Stephen, a 54-year-old IT consultant, live next door to one of eight “party properties”. She said: “We have seen naked butlers serving drinks to groups of women in the garden as well as strippers for the male groups.” Tory MP Mr Syms told a Westminster debate that one constituent returned home one day, with his seven-year-old daughter, “to find the house next door had blow-up dolls brought from a sex shop all the way around the veranda”.

Residents say the parties routinely start at 3am when the groups have come back from the clubs in Bournemouth, but by that time council environmental health staff have gone home.

Mr Syms added: “I really think this needs to be acted upon, otherwise the situation will get worse and I fear that the anger of my constituents is such that some of them will take the law into their own hands.”

A spokesman for Poole council said it was looking into ways to deal with the matter effectively.

Michelle King from Deluxe Holiday Homes, which lets out some of the “party properties”, said: “We deeply regret any inconvenience that may have been caused to residents in the Canford Cliffs area.” - Daily Mail

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