Plea for patrols

Calls have been made for more police patrols in Southwell on Friday and Saturday nights to prevent anti-social behaviour.

The town’s Safer Neighbourhood Group listed the lack of an obvious police presence as one of its top three concerns.

It believes patrols would reduce problems such as fights and damage to cars and property when people leave pubs on Friday and Saturday nights.

The group plans to approach Southwell Town Council with the idea of using community wardens to patrol the streets.

The secretary of Southwell Traders’ Association, Mr Robert Beckett, said it was a constant worry to traders that their shops would be damaged at weekends.

He said: “There has been vandalism, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.

“I don’t think anybody is against high spirits but when those high spirits transfer into property damage, it gets a lot more serious.”

Mr Beckett said there needed to be a more visible police presence in Southwell 24-hours a day, and not just community wardens.

He said: “The police presence needs to be there at weekends and it needs to be easily identifiable.

“I honestly believe it needs to be the correct police with the correct training and the correct authority.

“I don’t believe Southwell requires second best policing. We have got a first class police service in the UK and I want to see them.

“I don’t think it is fair to expose volunteers and the public to a dangerous situation.”

Mr Beckett said traders often had to pay a large insurance excess to have windows replaced.

He said: “It can be quite a substantial amount and that’s not taking into account any loss in trade, disruption to business or out of hours time spent by the shopkeepers waiting for the window to be boarded up, or for glass manufacturers.”

Mr Beckett said residents living in the town centre often parked their cars away from the area to make sure they weren’t damaged.

Mr John Pitchford, the owner of the butchers, John F. Pitchford, on Market Place, has had his shop window smashed several times.

He said: “Friday nights are the worst because people know there are often no police around.

“We are coming up to summer and we get more people, youngsters particularly, coming into town and they need somebody to tell them when it’s time to go home.”

Southwell’s beat manager, Pc Tony Hayes, told the Safer Neighbourhood Group that the police team in Southwell finished their shifts at 10pm, unless there was a major incident, and could not change the working hours.

He said: “Unfortunately, police are like any other public body in that we are stretched. For example, when there was the crash at Bilsthorpe, all officers were diverted to that and it took away all the resources for that night.”

Pc Hayes suggested approaching the town council to look into appointing community wardens.

He said: “Any visible presence is a deterrent and this warden could be linked into the police radio and could be our eyes and ears.”

The Safer Neighbourhood Group chairman, Mr Peter Harris, said several residents had considered becoming special constables, but were put off because they only wanted to work in the town and not the wider area.

Mr Harris said: “The problem with the specials is if there is an issue elsewhere, the structure takes them away from the town.”

Pc Hayes said they were hoping to recruit another support office to replace Mr Mark Brandreth who has joined the regular police force.