On the 20th of April at 7.30pm at the Civic Hall Longridge - there will be a public meeting to discuss the anti social behaviour in Longridge at which Nigel Evans MP and Ken Hind Leader of RVBC and Councillor for Dilworth will listen to the publics complaints and propose solutions.

Ken Hind commented, “the anti social behaviour in Longridge in very recent time particularly on Fridays and Saturdays in Berry Lane is unacceptable and needs to be addressed. It is connected with the the need to maintain our Youth centre  and have police nearby to deal with the problems. I do not blame the police as the problem lies with the way the they  are organised and the Labour police commisioner spends the council tax.  He  has closed Longridge police station and the  police based in far away  Colne and Blackburn .The response time to incidents on the streets of Londridge is too slow. Logic dictates that the main policing for Longridge should come from Preston and Longridge Police Stations. A victim stabbed in the street in Longridge could have bled to death before the police arrived.”

''Rural policing costs more to effectively combat crime than urban policing. but the Police Commsisioner strips resources  from rural policing to focus on the urban areas. The problems in Longridge are a feature of retreating from rural  policing by this commissioner which includes closing the Longridge Police station .Ribble Valley is the largest rural Borough in Lancashire but does not have a front office police station  facility where residents can go to seek help.”

''The Police Commissioner Mr Grunshaw still feels it appropriate to raise the council tax by the maximum in the forthcoming year for policing in the Ribble Valley-£12 for every band D household, but in paralell  deprives us of services. We calculate that of every £5 collected in Council Tax from the residents of the Ribble Valley for policing only £1 is spent in the Borough .This proportion should be higher. The Ribble Valley deserves better from its elected Commissioner and some of the increase in the council tax should be used to keep the front desks at Longridge and Clitheroe police stations open.”

''Sadly the Commissioner redirects resources from  rural areas  to police the towns in other parts of Lancashire where his Labour supporters reside.”

''The Ribble Borough Council despite financial constraints  still plays its part in Crime prevention and detection with 24 hour CCTV monitoring in Longridge, Whalley and Clitheroe town centres and support for for the funding of Police community support officers.'' 

The Town Council and all local councillors in Longridge have been invited to attend the meeting .