A GWENT council is taking the amazing step of writing to every parent in its troubled areas to prevent children joining mini terror-gangs.

The latest move is directed at a gang which includes children as young as four, causing havoc in the Somerton area of Newport.

Youngsters skateboard across traffic in the road, and when drivers stop to protest they are attacked with stones.

Things are so bad that Newport council's troubleshooting estate ranger manager, Richard Winfield, is taking what is believed to be an unprecedented step in writing to every resident in areas where youngsters are causing havoc.

As reported in the Argus, concerns are growing over a recent spate of incidents involving youngsters in Newport, including gangs stoning buses and taxis.

Pill police inspector Julia Walsh warned she was considering curfews after a spate of gang incidents culminating in two of her officers being attacked by children. And Newport Transport boss Trevor Roberts last week called for curfew orders for youngsters after the latest in a string of attacks on his bus drivers.

The "loud and aggressive" Somerton gang is also damaging buildings, blocking vehicles and intimidating and harassing residents. Some of their actions are fuelled by alcohol. The incidents are the latest to be reported in a three-week wave of vandalism that has shocked the town.

Mr Winfield, acting for the council's head of housing, says there has been varying success in other areas of Newport where his approach has been tried. In the Somerton letter, he warns parents children playing in the street could be drawn in to the gang's web.

"When cars stop after incidents the drivers are attacked with stones and verbal abuse," Mr Winfield said.

"Most worrying of all is the fact that many younger children under ten are being encouraged to join in and are copying the older ones."

The latest incident involved a car being set on fire at the weekend. A resident who witnessed it said: "The letter was delivered at lunchtime on Sunday, and shortly after I went out with my family.

"As we left the estate, a five- or six-year-old ran forward and spat at our car, turning for adulation from his group of peers sitting on the wall alongside the road."

A police spokesman said: "This is about taking responsibility for the area in which one lives.

"It is easy for people to turn a blind eye and not get involved, but it takes courage for people to do something when they've seen someone doing something wrong."

*PICTURED: A car was set on fire ion the Somerton area of Newport.