Charity theft is ‘low’

ASBOs are being sought, where appropriate, and we are linking in with other agencies for a more holistic and effective longer-term solution than simply a prosecution.

Nearly six months after the Savoy Cinema and its staff joined the Town Centre family, we are happy to say there have been next to no issues or incidents reported to us.

It’s great to see people enjoying the place, which has, in turn, brought more shoppers into our town.

Speaking of shopping, we have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of shop burglaries in the town of late.

We have worked hard on this issue with the council, business community and in targeted operations to deter and detect the culprits.

This hard work, however, was tarnished by an incident over the weekend in which burglars broke into the British Heart Foundation store in Bridge Street.

Nothing was stolen, but a window was damaged during the forced entry. This is a bill that will have to be paid by the charity and in turn those it is trying so hard to help.

Burglary is an extremely intrusive crime, and has a significant impact for its victims both psychologically and financially, but to try to steal from a charity is particularly low.

Anyone with any information about the perpetrators should call us on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Elsewhere, we have been working alongside the district council to attain a gating order for Church Walk.

This follows numerous complaints from residents about antisocial behaviour, and particularly noise, from people who use the street as a cut through to the Canch after a night out on the town. We hope a gate will be a simple and effective solution.

In the meantime, please respect people’s right to an undisturbed night’s sleep.