Call for more police on streets in Market Drayton
Market Drayton residents have called for increased policing of their streets, to combat crime and anti-social behaviour.
Neil Jukes, of Greenfields, told Market Drayton's annual town meeting last night: "We need to know that in town we have a good amount of proper policemen patrolling the streets.
"We pay the full amount of money for the police, we should get their full services. They don't seem to come to council meetings either, so they surely can't know what is going on."
The issue was also raised that the police station often appears empty, with no local officers on hand to deal with problems.
Mr Les Lacey, of Tennyson Close, said: "It is imperative that we have got more police on the beat. They need to be on the beat to tackle the problems."
Councillor Tim Beckett, mayor of Market Drayton town council, agreed with the residents.
He said: "I completely agree, we have a meeting with them soon, and I will put it to them that increased presence is needed."
Councillor Lee Ridgway said: "Personally, I think we need the police to come to a public meeting and answer public questions, because it is the public that are noticing these things. All the town council can do is write to them, and it will carry more weight if the public put it to them at a meeting."
Councillors were also put under fire for lack of public consultation on matters that have arisen over the last 12 months.
One issue came from the £5,000 spent on moving play equipment after complaints from nearby residents, just weeks after its installation.
Around 200 letters were sent out, and when no replies were received, the plans went ahead.
Janet Smith, of Bentleys Road, said that the public were not made aware of the plans in the most appropriate way.
She said: "£5,000 is a lot of money to waste, when a working party could have easily gone round and knocked on nearby doors, just to see what the real opinion on the equipment was. It's a lot of money that could be spent on enhancing the area."
This was also an issue when it came to the possibility of increasing the number of parent and toddler parking spaces in the town.
Councillor Ridgway explained to residents that a stall was held at the Festival of Lights, where only 12 people gave a response to the proposal.
Multiple residents demanded further consultation, claiming too few people were spoken to.
Councillor Beckett agreed to put it on the next meeting's agenda, to be revisited.
With the meeting running on for almost three hours, it was agreed to try to conduct another in a month's time to deal with any further problems.
