Scrutiny of behaviour in St Austell
ACORNWALL councillor has claimed that a rise in anti-social behaviour issues in St Austell has been caused by people “imported” to the town from outside Cornwall.
However, when Matt Luke was asked what evidence he had for his claim, he said it was from listening to the accents of people in the town.
The Mebyon Kernow councillor for Treverbyn raised the issue at a meeting of Cornwall Council’s neighbourhoods overview and scrutiny committee yesterday.
The committee had been considering a report on the Safer Cornwall Partnership plan which had mentioned a six-week programme of measures which were put in place in St Austell to tackle anti-social behaviour issues last summer.
Last July, a plan was put in place after a rise in reports of anti-social behaviour in the town, which included people seen to be abusing drugs, drinking alcohol and people visiting the town feeling intimidated.
Cllr Luke said: “There has been another spike in the St Austell area in the last week or so. The majority of the problems that are happening are being imported from other towns in Cornwall outside St Austell and out of county to the rehabilitation centres that are in St Austell. We are importing problems from outside the county – it is costing us a small fortune. We shouldn’t be importing problems into Cornwall at all. I know the companies involved get a lot of money to look after these people and so forth.
“It is getting to a point now in St Austell where we can’t physically take any more. It is coming to a breaking point. It is an ongoing problem and, unless we do something about it now, it will continue.”
Erika Sorenson, strategic intelligence manager for Safer Cornwall, said that she would refer the concerns raised by Cllr Luke but added: “It is not my understanding that we have a lot of people coming from out of the county. My experience is that a lot of the issues are local people or people living in the close vicinity who are requiring help and support in St Austell.”
She then asked Cllr Luke whether someone had told him that people were coming into the town from outside Cornwall or what evidence he had. He replied: “If you go round and listen to the accents of these people, they are not local.”
Chief Superintendent Jim Pearce, policing commander for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and chair of Safer Cornwall said that the issues had been flagged up and were being addressed at a local level, with Inspector Ed Gard having regular meetings with MP Steve Double and local councillors.
However, Ch Supt Pearce said that the current issues in the town were different from those seen in July last year. He added that the Safer Towns group was having weekly meetings about the issues.