MP joins teenagers in law and order probe

The East Worthing and Shoreham MP was joined by members of the Adur Youth Council, Boundstone Youth Wing and Lancing Parish Council chairman Wendy Gray.

They spoke to young people on the streets about some complaints from local residents and the recent Section 30 curfew orders that had been issued by the police.

The curfews meant that any youths who refused to leave certain roads or returned within 24 hours could have been arrested.

Mr Loughton said: "It was useful to go out incognito with members of the youth council and speak to many of the teenagers who are complaining about having little to do in Lancing and who have been the subject of the recent Section 30 orders to keep young people out of the centre of the village at night.

"By and large, they are decent young people who need to be engaged in more constructive activities but clearly local residents feel intimidated when such large groups of them congregate around residential areas.

"However, there are also a hard core of troublemakers who have been responsible for some serious violence and vandalism recently, not least involving local shops. They are giving young people in Lancing generally a bad name and they need to be identified and removed from influencing others.

"We had some very useful discussions about what young people want to see and how they view the police in particular. We also came up with some interesting suggestions about involving more volunteers on the streets to act as go-betweens with the teenagers and the police and Wendy and I will be taking these forward with the parish council and the youth council and police themselves.

"If we are to address the problems in Lancing then we must include young people as part of the solution rather than treating them too often as just the problem."