THEY are living in a ghost town, surrounded by derelict houses, boarded up homes and drug addicts.

And more than 30 families have just been told they will have to live on the estate for another two months before being re-homed.

The Ministry of Defence is undertaking a massive redevelopment project in Carterton, home to hundreds of service personnel and their families based at RAF Brize Norton.

The project, named Programme Future Brize, involves the demolition of 600 properties to make way for about 800 new family homes.

It is part of a scheme to transfer RAF Lyneham to Brize Norton by December 2012.

Fifty-nine families living in married quarters, known as Reema North, have been re-homed to other MoD-owned housing in Carterton, Faringdon, and Long Hanborough.

However, 33 households remain in Upwood Drive, Tangmere Avenue, Raynham Close, Yatesbury Road, Pitreavie Avenue and Odiham Close.

They say living among abandoned houses had led to a surge in crime, with an increase in burglaries, thefts from gardens and anti-social behaviour.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, told the Witney Gazette police were called to the estate two to three times a week.

She blamed the problems on the fact families were being moved at different times, which had left her with no neighbours on either side of her home. The mother-of-one said: “We have squatters, garages being broken into and drug paraphernalia on the playing fields.

“The Government has boarded up the houses, which is like a red flag to a bull as it now looks like a derelict estate. It’s just not safe.”

Another resident, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: “We were supposed to be moving out in March.

“They have moved people out and straight away boarded up the houses.

“They should have moved everybody out of a block or a street and flattened them straight away.”

A neighbour added: “I cannot step out of my house without locking it, my garden ornaments have gone missing.”

Phil Scott, chairman of Carterton’s Neighbourhood Action Group, and Adrian Coomber, who works at RAF Brize Norton and is deputy mayor of Carterton, hit out at the MoD. Mr Scott said: “We understand that there are squatters and it could easily become a magnet for drug dealing.

“It’s a haven for all the wrong types of thing, which happens when there is no control over it.

“It’s an eyesore on Carterton’s landscape and the whole things seems to have come to a grinding halt — we are keen to see it going again.”

Defence Estates, which are employed by the MoD as landlords of the properties, admitted families should have moved out by April.

Spokesman Tony Moran said: “We have tried to move families street-by-street.

“However, following consultation with residents, it became clear that some families had to move early to meet their welfare needs.

“The MoD is doing all it can to move families to alternative accommodation as it becomes available, but this process has been hampered by vandalism at another site.

“For that reason vacated properties at Carterton are being made secure to prevent vandalism or theft and to offer some security for remaining residents.

“MoD police, RAF police and Thames Valley Police are all aware of the challenge. They are working closely together — patrolling the area as frequently as possible.”

He said the vandalism took place in both north and central Carterton, where the service families were supposed to be re-homed.

DE aims to move all residents by late July.