Pendle Council joins forces with police to tackle Brierfield anti-social behaviour

Pendle Council has teamed up with the police to clamp down on anti-social behaviour in the Massey Street area of Brierfield.
Police officers have stepped up their presence in the areaPolice officers have stepped up their presence in the area
Police officers have stepped up their presence in the area

Problems at this anti-social behaviour hotspot have included drug and alcohol use, burning bins, incidents involving noise and bad language and people using the area as a toilet.

“Local families wanting to use the Massey Street Play Area often found they couldn’t because it was littered with broken glass, cans, bottles and needles,” said Pendle Council’s Community Protection Coordinator, Tim Horsley.

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“A Protection Order is now in place and local residents say it’s had an impact in improving their quality of life."

The Public Spaces Protection Order means people will be committing a criminal offence if they:

- Fail to stop drinking or hand over alcohol when asked to do so by the police

- Use the restricted area around Massey Street as a toilet

- Have previously been involved in anti-social behaviour and enter the children’s play area, or within 10 metres of it, and are not with a child aged up to 10 who’s using the play area

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- Are in the restricted area and refuse to give their name and address to an authorised officer when asked

- Are in a group of four people or more and behaving in an anti-social way and refuse to leave the restricted area when a Police or Council Officer asks them to.

“These offences can lead to fines of up to £1,000,” warned Mr Horsley.

Leader of Pendle Council, Coun. Paul White, said: “Local residents know that we’ve listened to their concerns and acted on them.

“This has been a team effort and it’s making a difference.

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“Police officers have stepped up their presence in this area and used their dispersal powers to break up groups of people behaving badly, and that’s helped enormously.

“And we’ve cut back the hedges around the play area so that it’s easier for us all to keep an eye on what’s going on and take action if we need to."