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Belper residents' bid to tackle car vandals
RESIDENTS on Belper's Nottingham Road have begged for more support in tackling anti-social behaviour in the area.
People living on the main road into the town have suffered years of criminal damage and nuisance behaviour and now several of them have reached breaking point.
One resident said she believed several of her neighbours had made the decision to sell up and move elsewhere because of the problems.
She pleaded for more to be done by police and councils to tackle the issues.
At a meeting of Belper Town Council the female resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "Every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night it's the same old problems. It's just shocking.
"It will be even worse when the new houses are built at Deb. It's gone too far."
The woman said she had been moved to come forward after her new car was vandalised several weeks ago.
Damaged cars have become a familiar sight on the busy road. Cllr John Nelson has also complained that litter bins along the street are regularly vandalised.
He added: "We have numerous complaints about the problems on Nottingham Road. I can assure people we are not putting our heads in the sand and doing nothing about it."
Police in Belper launched a campaign last September in a bid to get more people involved in tackling the problem, but agree that more needed to be done.
Sgt Richard Booth said: "Nottingham Road has been a problem for 20 or 30 years and I'm determined to put that right, but there are inherent problems in policing it. The problem with criminal damage is that it's so quick that unless we are there at the time we miss it.
"What we need is information. There are 500 pairs of eyes on that road which can help."
Police meet with residents on a semi-regular basis to discuss the problem, but Sgt Booth said not many people had been along.
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Weather for Belper
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
