Clean-up for subway in drugs blitz

ACLEAN-UP operation is to take place in a Runcorn subway blighted by drug dealing.

PC Laura Goddard said that a residents’ survey had revealed that the supply of illicit substances in the underpass was the main concern in and around Victoria Road.

The questionnaire found that while 75% of respondents had not experienced anti-social behaviour and 59% had not had any issues with crime in the past six months, 41% said that they had, and 13% said that crime had ‘significantly’ affected their lives during the past six months.

Residents reported that their priorities were to tackle drug dealing in the subway, boosting police presence and parking issues.

PC Goddard said police would disrupt drug dealing and carry out a ‘cleanup operation’, vary their tactics for thwarting the dealers, increase high-visibility patrols and use PCSOs to address parking problems.

The subway at the foot of Victoria Road is down a flight of steps and is plastered with graffiti.

It passes under the Spur Road and leads to a junction of paths, one of which is another subway under Bridgewater Expressway, linking to Runcorn Old Town.

Police said that a mugging took place in a subway beneath Bridgewater Expressway in August, and the Weekly News reported last year how a resident in one nearby street used a baseball bat to defend his home from a drug-addicted burglar.

Halton Borough Council has said part of its redevelopment of the former Crosville depot site is to improve above-surface pedestrian access across the expressway.

PC Goddard said: “During the end of September and the beginning of October, beat managers PC Lucy Kennedy and PC Laura Goddard and PCSOs Rebecca Thompson and Gary Buckles whose beat area is the Old Town-Mersey, conducted a community survey on Victoria Road to gain an understanding of issues residents in the area were experiencing in relation to crime and anti-social behaviour.

“A total of 38 houses on Victoria Road completed the survey.” ● The grafitti-covered subway at the bottom of Victoria Road is a known haunt of drug dealers