THERE was a time when York's back alleys belonged to the city's people.

We hung our washing out to dry in them, chatted to the neighbours in them. And they were places where we knew our children could play safely.

Times have changed, however. Today, they are often bleak places: unloved, litter strewn, daubed with graffiti. And at night, some are haunts for burglars, drug dealers and yobs.

City of York Council has been talking for years about closing off many of these alleys with gates.

Little seemed to happen for much of that time, apart from a few pilot schemes.

But now the work is about to begin in earnest.

Next month, 52 back alleys in Clifton will be gated.

Then work will begin on identifying and prioritising a further 100 such alleyways in South Bank and The Groves - though it will be years yet before they are all closed off.

In some ways, it is a shame that we should have to resort to such measures simply to make local people feel secure in their own homes. But the evidence does seem to suggest there will be big drops in crime as a result.

When a snicket at the lower end of Grosvenor Terrace was closed off a couple of years ago, crime fell by 87 per cent.

According to Ian Cunningham, of the Safer York Partnership, gating the alleys may also help local people take back ownership of them.

They will still be able to get in and out by keying in a code on a keypad on the gates.

It is the criminals and yobs who will be kept out. If the gates really can make York people sleep easier in their beds, then they cannot come soon enough.