The Clerk of Whalley Parish Council, Mandy Richardson has been tasked with organising a multi-agency meeting of relevant organisations that have an input into trying to address and manage the growing problem of Intimidating Drug-Induced Anti-Social Behaviour and Criminal Damage caused by by gangs of Young People in Whalley.

The Parish Council has had the following reports over the last few weeks:

·      25/2/19 – Young People at the Swan Car Park shouting abuse and threatening the New Landlady Owner

·      5/3/19 – Young People and Anti-Social Behaviour – The Sands and Whalley Abbey Grounds/A59 Bridge demonstrating intimidatory behaviour towards and jostling local residents

·      11/3/19 – Young People throwing eggs at Vale House Retirement Home & litter strewn around Vale Gardens

·      16/3/19  - Young People at Vale Gardens causing criminal damage and drug taking in the toilets

On Tuesday night at Vale Gardens another incident occurred in which a bench provided by public benefactors was vandalised whilst the toilets were used as a hideaway.  

The gangs are often verbally abusive and use threatening behaviour towards residents when asked to move on.  Drug taking is evident with nitrous oxide (laughing gas) cannisters and cannabis cigarette butts being discarded. This is taking place in Whalley Abbey, under the A59 bridge and at the toilets in Vale Gardens, King Street.  The gangs are mixed and aged 13 years upwards and are believed to be attending St Augustines, Ribblesdale (maybe Grammar and Bowland). The residents believe these gangs are made up of young people that reside in Whalley and those that travel into Whalley (often by Train from surrounding areas) .

John Heap, the Director of Community Services at Ribble Valley Borough Council has revealed that the doors to the toilets have been damaged that often such that is no longer possible to lock them automatically after 7pm ensuring that they remain locked during the hours of darkness. The escalating cost of repairs has convinced the Council to replace the toilet doors with steel shutters to keep vandals out and from causing further damage. According to Mr. Heap the cost of vandalism to the toilets and surrounding areas is signficant at a time when public funding is in decline. On occasions cleaners and electricians have been called out at the weekends to clear up the mess.

Although all 3 CCTV cameras in the village are currently operational it has proved impossible to identify the youths from the images captured of them on camera..  

The two Conservative Candidates in the Borough Council Elections in Whalley, Ged Mirfin and Mark Hindle both advocate additional CCTV Cameras being installed at strategic locations throughout the village in order to better capture images of individuals up to no good so as to facilitate arrests and bring prosecutions against the individuals concerned so that appropriate punishments can be handed out.

Mark Hindle states, “It’s going to take a prosecution to demonstrate the deterrent effect of CCTV against Anti-Social Behaviour by marauding gangs of Youths. For that to happen it will inevitably require the extension of CCTV into identified hotspots like Queen Street, the grounds of Whalley Abbey, the Sands, under the A59 Bridge and the Railway Station.”

Research carried out by the other Conservative Candidate in the New Whalley Painter Wood Ward, Ged Mirfin, based on data from the Ribble Valley Crime Statistics collated by Safer Lancashire over the last 12 months from February 2018 to January 2019  based on figures from Lancashire Constabulary, reveal a much more worrying trend. Whalley is now top of the Crime Statistics for the Ribble Valley for Violent Assaults and Drug Offences..

Ged Mirfin states, “The figures are real cause for concern. More Physical Assaults, some of a sexual nature, took place in Whalley than in any other Ward across the Borough. Much of this is directly related to Alcohol-Fuelled Violence and Lewd Behaviour on the streets in the early hours of the morning - a consequence of the burgeoning night time economy. There were also more arrests for Drugs in Whalley than in any other Ward in the Ribble Valley. The problem is deeply concerning. Both issues require urgent attention and a multi-agency approach to tackle it including stricter enforcement of the licensing regime by the Council, enhanced responsiveness when trouble occurs by the police, better and more CCTV located at hot spots throughout the village and last but not least a more pro-active approach by licensees when large groups of party-goers from outlying villagers visit local hostelries .”

This will prevent the kind of situation which resulted in a melee involving a large number of drunken individuals on the mini-roundabout at 9.15/30 on Saturday night observed and described so evocatively by one of the Conservative Candidates In Wiswell, Barrow And Pendleton, Simon Kerins on Social Media. Simon wittily observed how, “Some village is missing its idiots tonight. To those people who tried turning the centre of Whalley into a battlefield, I can only tell you that Jeremy Kyle tends not to recruit from these salubrious parts.”

Simon continues, “There appears to be a Core of young people floating around the village up to no good. A dozen to twenty young people in their mid to late teens taking drugs and acting in an intimidating manner toward local residents whenever they encounter them. Residents are having to walk through big groups and being threatened. It is unfortunately one of the prices Whalley is paying for being an attraction. The problem is that the longer this continues the less of an attraction it will prove to be.”