MP and Wrexham Council to Discuss How to ‘Step up Efforts’ to Tackle Antisocial Behaviour in Town Centre

Wrexham MP Ian Lucas will meet with Wrexham Council today to discuss people’s concerns about the ongoing issues with anti-social behaviour in the town centre.

Prior to the General Election, Mr Lucas raised a series of questions in the House of Commons with the Ministers responsible for tackling crime, anti-social behaviour and Government policy on new psychoactive substances (formerly known as legal highs).

The questions came off the back of discussions with senior Wrexham Council officers about the issue.

Today Mr Lucas will meet with officers and councillors to discuss the replies and find out what further pressure can be put on the UK Government to help the local authority in tackling the problem.

Although there has been ‘partnership working’ between a several local agencies to help tackle the problem, Mr Lucas said that countless businesses, shoppers and visitors to Wrexham have spoken to him about the “negative impact groups of drug and alcohol users are having on the town centre.”

Mr Lucas said: “In the General Election campaign, the state of the Town Centre was a constant issue. I am meeting with Mr Jones and Council officers again to stress the importance of this matter. The Council need to find the resources to deal with it. It is the highest priority for Wrexham people.

“Any plans for Town Centre regeneration will be hamstrung by allowing the current situation to continue. I told the Conservative Lead Council Member, Hugh Jones, at the last Town Centre Forum meeting on June 6 that the Council needed to introduce more staff to combat anti-social behaviour in the Town Centre.

“Work is being done – much of it in partnership with others such as the police, who I have already spoken to on this issue this week – but we need to step up our efforts to address this problem.

“I will, of course, continue working to highlight the issue with Ministers in the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and elsewhere. I had raised specific questions at the direct request of the council just before the election was called, and I will be following up responses to these in Monday’s meeting.

“I will also continue pressing the UK Government for more policing resources as community policing has reduced massively in Wrexham.

“We had more police officers, supported by community support officers, before 2010 and the reduction in policing has contributed to the deterioration of the Town Centre environment.”

Below – a video uploaded to Facebook by Ian Lucas last night addressing the antisocial behaviour issues in the town.