Non-residents have effectively been banned from gathering at a housing estate plagued by drug-dealing and anti-social behaviour.
For the next three months, police have ordered the closure of 19 blocks of flats on the Freehold estate in Rochdale to non-residents.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it wanted to stop criminals entering an area which had seen “incessant drug dealing” and intimidation of residents.
Under the force’s first use of an Open Space Closure Order Zone, non-residents are banned from congregating near the flats’ stairwells, landings, bridges and refuse chutes.
Since December, GMP said it had made 40 arrests in the area as well as seizing drugs, cash and weapons.
Flats have also been repossessed and problem tenants evicted.
Insp Meena Yasin said the new closure zone was a “revolutionary way (of using existing laws) to protect our communities in the place they call home”.
She said: “If we identify people who are entering the neighbourhood without permission or to commit crime, we can arrest and remove them.”
GMP said it had taken action following extensive consultation with the local community and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.
To help enforce the new closure zones, police patrols will be stepped up day and night, the force said.
A spokesman said residents’ lawful day-to-day activities would not be affected.
Rather, officers “will be able to more effectively remove criminals who are loitering in the stairwells or public spaces, committing crime or anti-social behaviour”.
