Nuisance teenagers are village's main concern (From Warrington Guardian)

Nuisance teenagers are village's main concern

ANTI-social behaviour by teenagers has been identified as the top policing issue in Willaston.

Villagers met at a Community Action Meeting where they voted youth nuisance as the priority for the local bobby Dave Dixon and his colleagues.

Speeding and littering were considered the next most important issues at the meeting of residents in the village primary school.

PC Dixon said that since the previous meeting several teenagers causing problems on a regular basis had been identified and made the subject of Youth Notification Forms, which means their behaviour is now being monitored.

He also stressed the importance of people contacting the police to report any incidents of nuisance behaviour.

He said: "Over the past nine weeks there have only been 11 calls regarding disorder in the village.

"I need to know when it is happening, where it's happening and who are causing the problems so I can concentrate all my efforts and resources available to help eradicate this problem and provide reassurance."

He said that when he asks teenagers what they want, the common reply is 'we're bored!'.

He added that police, villagers and other agencies needed to have a clear idea of what services or facilities are required to help alleviate boredom and reduce disorder.

On another issue, PC Dixon said: "The Community Speed Watch volunteers have continued their hard work and are braving the elements in order to carry out speed checks.

"So far it has resulted in 92 drivers receiving first warning letters and four drivers having a visit from myself to issue a final warning for exceeding the speed limit within the village.

"The number of drivers caught speeding is only a small percentage of the amount of vehicles that have passed by the speed check points.

"In total 1,163 vehicles passed the volunteers with only 96 vehicles' details being logged.

"This indicates that over 90% of drivers are keeping to the speed limits for the village."

The next Community Action Meeting will be held on July 3 at Willaston Primary School.