There has been a series of conflicts between community care organisations and local people over the noise made by mentally handicapped people living next door.

Over the past 20 years, large institutions have been closed and patients moved into community care in houses to give them the opportunity to integrate into the local community.

In practice, however, this is leading to serious conflicts with neighbours who are fed up with the screaming, growling and thuds they hear, reports the Volkskrant.

‘I have called the police on numerous occasions,’ Frans Eussen told the paper. Eussen lives next door to mentally handicapped people in Hoensbroek in Zuid-Limburg. ‘You hear screaming, fights, knocking, and it disturbs our sleep.’

Eussen complained to the community care organisation in his area and was offered compensation to keep quiet. He refused and has now won a case against Heerlen council which wrongly gave the organisation permission to house mentally handicapped people in the centre of Hoensbroek.

Jean Claessens, who lives in Boxmeer in Noord-Brabant, has handicapped youngsters next door. ‘We cannot hear ourselves speak when we are in the garden and they are playing,’ he said. ‘I understand they need a good place to live, but they need a lot more space to play.’

Neither of the organisations involved would comment, the Volkskrant says.

Research is divided on the effect of community care on the quality of life for the mentally handicapped. Some of them flourish living among ‘normal’ people. But the more seriously handicapped in particular do better in small institutions with large grounds, research by care organisation Talant and Groningen university shows.