Police partnership formed with Oswestry Town Council

At the first meeting of Oswestry Town Council's finance and general purposes committee since the election, a presentation was given by Inspector Claire Greenaway from West Mercia Police Safer Neighbourhood Team on the new police charter.

Councillors discussed the charter and then unanimously backed a motion from the committee chair Councillor Duncan Kerr to form a new partnership to tackle the issues that cause most harm and distress to Oswestry residents.

Councillor Kerr said: "We won’t build the better and greener town we all wish to see without working closely with the police.

"From litter, graffiti and dog fouling through to speeding cars, youth crime, drugs and domestic abuse, there are a host of issues where we both need to work together to address both the symptoms, and the underlying causes, of anti-social behaviour.

"Our new Police Partnership Panel has been formed to do this and is another first for Oswestry. The two organisations will share data and then plan and resource effective programmes to combat the issues that cause the most harm to our communities [and] action to tackle these problems.

"They were a key part of the pledges made by the Green Party councillors in standing for election in May and I am pleased that we are starting to address them already”.

At the same meeting the council approved a motion from Councillor Gemma Cassin to write a letter of sympathy and support to two local families who have recently been the target of hate crime incidents.

The council is urging anyone else who might have suffered any similar incidents to contact the police and said it was grateful to the police for the steps they are taking to make the service responsive to the needs of vulnerable victims.