FUNDING has been secured to cover an increased police presence in Minehead following a rise in anti-social behaviour and shoplifting.

The news was given by Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Clare Moody when she visited the town with MP Rachel Gilmour.

The ‘hotspot action funding’ will meet the cost of significantly increasing the number of visible community patrols by police officers.

Ms Moody was in Minehead as part of the launch of a ‘Safer Streets Summer Initiative’ (SSSI), which in turn was part of her ‘Your Streets, My Priority’ campaign.

The campaign is underpinned by £5 million from the Home Office in addition to police settlement funding to restore neighbourhood policing.

The SSSI will run until the end of September and include measures to enhance police patrols in local areas, along with regular ‘street surgeries’ and closer working with businesses and communities to tackle anti-social behaviour and shoplifting.

Mrs Gilmour and Ms Moody met Minehead’s mayor and deputy mayor, Cllrs Craig Palmer and Anne Lawton, and walked along The Esplanade accompanied by neighbourhood policing Sgt Naomi Baker to visit several shops and hear from residents and proprietors about the issues they faced.

In one premises they heard of ‘egregious anti-social behaviour culminating in shoplifting’.

They heard tales of how anti-social behaviour was occurring with ‘distressing regularity’, and Mrs Gilmour and Ms Moody reinforced the need for all incidents to be reported to the relevant authorities, and for the police to have the correct level of resources to follow up on reports.

The group also visited the town centre Bar 21 to discuss how local people and businesses play an important role in community policing.

Mrs Gilmour and Ms Moody then held talks in the town’s new police station in Stephenson Road, where she also raised with the PCC a ‘worrying increase in rural crime figures’.