Crackdown on thugs in ‘outlaw’ part of town
A SENIOR director of Kirklees Council has promised businesses in an ‘outlaw’ part of Huddersfield town centre they are cracking down hard on anti-social behaviour.
An Examiner story telling how a Huddersfield hairdresser despaired over the behaviour of drunks in St Peter’s Gardens after one of them openly urinated in front of a 17-yearold girl who is his junior staff member, drew a huge response from readers.
Steve Smith, from Stephen Pressley Hair Design on Byram Street, said he wanted to see greater efforts from West Yorkshire Police and the council to improve the situation for traders.
One female reader wrote: “St Peter’s Gardens is named on the town’s blueprint as one of the places to be regenerated.
“I walked through with my dog to see if it was as bad as it was made out to be. It was awful, drunks leering at me and making inappropriate suggestions, and men totally spaced out.
“So why is Kirklees Council spending money on this? Nobody in their right minds would want to go there.”
Jill Greenfield, service director for communities and customers, said: “Kirklees Council does not condone such behaviour and we understand the negative impact this can have on residents and town-centre businesses. Last summer, Kirklees Council began funding an additional town centre team made up of police officers and local authority public space protection officers who joined the partnership to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour in both Huddersfield and Dewsbury town centres.
“Since the teams deployment in the summer the team have handed out 119 ‘directions to leave the town centres,’ which dramatically helped reduce the visible anti-social behaviour within our towns.
“As more and more people return to the town centres as we move through the government’s roadmap we will continue to ensure that the town centre team are on hand.
“We are committed to working with our local businesses and residents to address anti-social behaviour – email safer@kirklees.gov.uk if you have ideas of how we can work together to tackle antisocial behaviour.”