Town votes for community wardens

COMMUNITY wardens will soon be tackling disorder in and around Heathfield.

Parish councillors this week voted to introduce two wardens to patrol the parish with the aim of tackling anti-social behaviour.

The pilot scheme a two-year county council initiative backed by the police will go ahead after nearly 70 per cent of residents who responded to a questionnaire said they supported the proposal in some form.

The county will put 50,000 towards the cost of the scheme in the first year and have promised to underwrite the scheme to the same value in the second.

However, at a packed public meeting this week, angry locals claimed the move could see the withdrawal of police from the town.

Officers

At Monday's meeting, Sussex Police Chief Inspector Grenville Wilson told residents that wardens would not replace officers in the town. However, some locals were not convinced.

One member of the public said: 'The police officer in Heathfield is a dying species and this is an opportunity for the police to withdraw even further. The enforcement of law and order rests with the police.'

A representative of a neighbourhood warden scheme which has been running two wardens in Ashington, West Sussex, for the past year told the meeting that 89 per cent of residents were now in favour of the initiative.

However, an angry resident said: 'There are 3,500 people in Ashington and 14,000 in Heathfield and Waldron. Compared to us they are a sleepy hollow and that's saying something.

'The statutory obligation of policing clearly lies with the police and the parish council shouldn't meddle with such affairs. I'm not suprised the police are in favour of it. They must have made an awful lot of savings with these schemes. I am dead against it.'

Another resident asked: 'How effective can two people be covering Heathfield, Punnetts Town, Broad Oak and Waldron? I don't see how two people can be in all the places that's needed. It's a good idea but much more is needed.

But other residents spoke out in favour of the warden scheme. One said: 'Police resources are limited and they should be chasing the serious crime in the county. We simply don't have serious crime here.

'The warden scheme sounds like a very good alternative for tackling smaller problems which will then take the pressure off the police.'

Another local said: 'It would be absolutely crazy to not take advantage of this for the next couple of years. We can see if it works and if it doesn't work we can get rid of it.'

Heathfield district councillor Margaret Kirkpatrick rounded off the evening by saying: 'If we don't take up this opportunity then there will be lots of councils who will queue up to have it. We would be crazy not to take it.'

l How the scheme will work: Page 17.