Wellingborough and Rushden MP Gen Kitchen hears from Rushden teenagers at meeting aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour in the town
Gen Kitchen has met with the police, fire and crime commissioner, representatives from the council, the prison service, youth and sports groups and local young people to discuss anti-social behaviour in Rushden.
A group was formed last autumn which meets at Rushden and Higham FC to discuss ways to work with young people to tackle issues such as knife crime, anti-social behaviour and substance abuse.
A youth safety strategy has been proposed by the group, and a wider consultation will soon be launched to allow young people, parents and carers, and other interested parties to feed into future plans.
Other measures include the introduction of a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker and a crackdown on the online sale of knives.
Gen Kitchen said: “The Labour government is committed to making our streets safer so I’m really pleased to be doing this important work locally alongside new national policies to tackle these issues.
“It was very powerful to hear directly from teenagers about where they feel safe and why in Rushden. We want to expand this work much further to hear from as many young people as possible.”
The meeting was also an opportunity for the authorities to hear from local teenagers about the areas they feel safe visiting in the town as well as places they avoid due to fears of violence.
Scott Fitzsimmons, who attended on behalf of anti-knife campaigners Off the Streets, added: “I was pleased to attend this event. It was good to see action being taken on this, especially after some of the recent incidents we’ve seen throughout the area.”
The group will meet again later in the spring.