‘Parked motorcycles linked to crime and litter’

You might expect Neighbourhood Watch schemes to back measures which reduce crime.

But the curtain twitchers don’t seem too keen if it’s motorcycle theft which is being tackled.

Parked motorcycles chained to lampposts were raised in a discussion on how “grot” and “rubbish” can encourage crime at a recent Neighbourhood Watch and Police meeting.

• Read the minutes here

Minutes from the so-called Police And Communities Together (PACT) meeting reveal how a Neighbour Watch representative explained ‘the connection between an area that has lots of accumulated rubbish and the increase in crime in the same area’.

He said US police had ‘made a link between areas of nasty crime and areas of grot.

‘As the grot spread so did the crime, being described as the “Broken Windows” theory.’

The minutes go on: ‘A discussion followed, highlighting residents concerns relating to motorbikes being left chained to lampposts near to Claytons St Albans Rd, also Zeekos takeaway which had been the subject of various complaints relating to litter.’

The discussion was held in a meeting of the PACT group for St Annes in Lancashire.

St Annes Councillor Fabian Craig Wilson, who was present, said she did not recall bikes being raised. “I don’t remember anything about motorcycles,” she said.  

• Read the minutes here