Buckfastleigh councillors have clashed with a Devon youth worker who suggested youth problems in the town were on the decline. Mike Stevens, of Devon County Youth Service, said the number of recorded criminal incidents involving young people had fallen and that the 'overall picture in Buckfastleigh is improving'. He made the comments at a meeting of the town council last week, but not everyone agreed. Cllr Dan Merkell said Mr Stevens was talking 'absolute rubbish' and that he witnessed trouble regularly. He said two or three 'older lads' from Ashburton had teamed up with Buckfastleigh youngsters and were now 'ruling the streets'. Cllr Peter Weekes, who has a garage business, said his cars were vandalised regularly and that residents had little faith in calling police. 'Waiting 45 minutes on the phone people get fed up,' he said. He accused Mr Stevens of calling him 'a liar' by not accepting his anecdotal evidence but the youth worker maintained that statistically the problem was diminishing and that many of the incidents were attributable to people in their 20s. He also accused the press of whipping up stories which, in his opinion, inaccurately blamed youths, and warned against conducting a 'witch hunt'. But he conceded that Buckfastleigh was 'the joint worse area' on his patch and that communicating with the police was not always easy, nor the results satisfying. He said it was 'quite shocking' that no one had been arrested for any of the 44 vandal attacks suffered by The Bungalow youth project in the last two years and that, on the last occasion, he had to wait 24 hours for an officer to attend. He said the building had now been equipped with heavy-duty steel doors, the first time he had made such a decision in his 40-year career. 'It is up to you to sort out the police,' he told the councillors. The mayor, Cllr Don Joint, agreed to request a meeting with Insp Dave Knott, Chudleigh sector inspector, during which the problems could be analysed.