COMMUNITY leaders have put politics aside to fight for safer streets across the borough after a spate of violent crime.

At a full meeting of Southend Council a motion was put forward by the independents calling for policing in the borough to be strengthened and numbers increased.

Concerns were raised about how safe residents are in Southend after a string of knife-related crimes took place in the town centre as well as in Shoebury.

This included a mass knife brawl in the High Street in front of shocked onlookers at the end of last month

Independent councillor Martin Terry said: “I am absolutely delighted that the council have agreed the motion put forward by the independents.

“To get the support from all parties just goes to show what a laughing stock the Government is right now when they claim cuts in policing don’t lead to an increase in crime.

“We need our neighbourhood policing back in Southend. It is so important to the town.

“I can’t underscore the significance of the council’s Conservative administration supporting an independent motion which is essentially a criticism of the Conservative Government.

“While we welcome the 12 officers that will be coming next year, the distribution of officers across the county does not represent the level of crime in each district.

“Community safety is the hallmark of a civilised society and our community safety is being undermined by lawlessness.

“There is no doubt those who are criminally inclined are aware there is less chance of them getting caught because of the cutbacks to policing.

“We are at crisis point.”

Conservative leader John Lamb agreed and amended the motion to represent the cross-party backing.

The motion stated: “This council believes that the level of crime in Southend is damaging community safety and community relations through the town and specifically harming the confidence of local businesses and Southend BID.

“The council recognises and welcomes the recent increase in policing precept but feels the allocation of 12 uniformed officers is inadequate.

“As a matter of urgency, this council calls upon the offices of the police, fire and crime commissioner, chief constable and the home secretary to authorise the allocation of additional resources including the re-establishment of the town centre beat team recently removed under government cuts to meet the needs of our seven million visitors a year and population of the town.”

Speaking after the meeting, John Lamb added: “We are all of one mind and concerned about the policing of Southend. “The officers that have been assigned are not sufficient to reflect our busier times and the seven million visitors we get each year.

“Our town is quite different from other areas in Essex and the policing number need to reflect that.

“I hope this motion will allay fears that crime is getting out of hand in the borough.

“Council members across the floor are all taking it very seriously and supported the motion.

“We did have an open and frank debate on the issue and are all of the same mind that we need action.

“The fact that we can say to our own government that we need action shows this issue is not being politicised.”

The council will now write to all those with influence to raise concerns.

Labour councillor Ian Gilbert added: “This motion is a clear indication that nobody is satisfied with the level of policing in the borough.

“I would always say that the police we do have in the town and across the borough as a whole do a very good job but they are hopelessly underfunded and there are so many needs that they are just incapable of dealing with.

“It’s very clear and everybody accepts that the current situation isn’t good enough and we have to speak out about that on behalf of all the concerned residents in the community. The thing we’ve really lost is the neighbourhood policing aspect as we used to have dedicated PCSOs in the community that used to prevent lesser issues from escalating.”

The was motion passed.