Dawley residents 'too scared to go out at night'

Residents are afraid to go in a Telford town at night because of yobs causing trouble and anti-social behaviour in its high street, an MP claimed today.

Telford MP David Wright called for police to target Dawley as a priority area after being contacted by people over their concerns. He said he welcomed the investment in the town but felt that more was needed.

Mr Wright said: "We must do more, as we need a renewed drive against anti-social behaviour in the high street. I continue to raise that with the police, as it is an ongoing problem.

"Local residents constantly say to me that it is a serious issue, particularly at night. When they go in to use the town, there are gangs of young people concentrated in the town.

"We need to divert those people and give them something else to do, but we also need to crack down on antisocial behaviour, which is unacceptable."

Drinking

Mr Wright added: "Residents are still telling me they are concerned and sometimes scared to go into the centre in the evening. That cannot be good.

"We have got to have Dawley as a continuing police priority and we have got to use all the resources we can to stop people drinking in the street and try and encourage people to come into the town throughout the day."

He said people were particularly raising concerns about young people and anti-social behaviour in the evening and "hanging around" the area.

Sergeant Fiona Locke, who is in charge of the local policing teams, said: "Dawley is a priority area for the central local policing teams and if people are experiencing anti-social behaviour in the town we would urge them to report it to us.

"At the present time we are recording very few reports from local people about anti-social behaviour.

"We have been made aware of concerns about the youths that congregate by the library. But at the times we have been paying attention to it, they have not been causing any issues, so we have been unable to do anything."

By Lisa Rowley