GIVE it a couple of years and you’ll see a real sense of change in Boscombe.

That’s the pledge from Bournemouth’s council leader, who is promising tough action on rehab centres and poor housing.

Following a high-level meeting at Bournemouth town hall yesterday, the council has pro-mised to take targeted action on the number of services in the area aimed at people with drug and alcohol problems.

A total of 29 private residential properties have been identified as causing a problem in central Boscombe and there are plans to require landlords to improve standards and tackle the issues presented by their tenants.

Other measures include:

* Ensuring that any service offering treatment for addictions is properly registered with the Care Quality Commission.

*n Stepping up targeted inspections of addiction treatment centres and taking enforcement action where necessary.

* Using planning powers to prevent the expansion of services and housing aimed at drug and alcohol addicts.

* Working with South West Prisons to try and reduce the number of ex-prisoners coming to Boscombe.

* Reducing the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation in the area.

* Encouraging a more settled residential community in the area by helping families get on the property ladder.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Bournemouth Council, Dorset Police, the Probation Service and Dorset 2026.

They were told that analysis of Boscombe revealed there are only two residential rehabilitation treatment centres for addiction in Boscombe as well as some day treatment services.

However, there are 58 properties in Boscombe that house people with a specific need, including addicts, people with mental health issues and ex-offenders.

Cllr John Beesley said there was a real commitment to make lasting improvements to Boscombe: “I can’t pretend it’s going to be easy but I look upon Boscombe as being a changed place in a few years time.

“On the housing side, it’s a question of making sure that young families really believe they have got a stake in Boscombe and can make a difference. And this is not just words, we are putting money behind it.”

But landlord Sylvia Angell, who owns several flats in Walpole Road, said it was unfair to blame landlords for Boscombe’s decline.

“It is not the landlords who have let Boscombe go to rack and ruin, it is the council,” she said.

“I was a landlord there long before any of this happened and it used to be a desirable place to live.

“There are so many rehab and addiction places there now and I think the council should take the blame for allowing them to set up unchecked.”