COMMUNITY WARDENS TAKE TO THE STREETS

A Team of community wardens aiming to make Crewe and Nantwich a safer and cleaner place will be patrolling the streets from next week. Five community wardens have been appointed to work across the borough and two more will be based at Crewe Cemetery and Crematorium.

They will officially start work on Monday but their first week will be spent on an intensive nationally-accredited training course.

The wardens will then take to the streets alongside officers from the Cheshire Police's Community Action Team (CAT).

The council's senior enforcement officer, Keith Boughey, has been appointed to manage and develop the team.

He is currently working closely with the CAT, led by Inspector Allan Allman.

Mr Boughey said: "A key element of the community wardens' role will be to build up strong community relations by working with residents, neighbourhood forums, community groups and parish councils.

"Crewe and Nantwich residents have consistently identified litter and dog fouling as major concerns so these two issues will be a particular focus for the wardens.

"The community wardens will be talking to residents to help identify quality of life issues and working with them to take action in dealing with those people causing a community nuisance."

Inspector Allman, of the Safer Communities Partnership, said: "The introduction of the community wardens is a positive step forward to making this borough an even safer and more attractive place to live, work or visit.

"What we term 'low-level nuisance' issues such as dog fouling, litter dropping, graffiti and noisy neighbours often have a detrimental impact on people's quality of life. For those who have to suffer the consequences, low-level nuisance can be intolerable.

"The community wardens will perform a vital role in protecting, assisting and educating the community by acting as the eyes, ears and voice of the police.

"They will play a key part in educating the public about what is and is not acceptable behaviour. Ultimately they will have the power to enforce local authority legislation by issuing on the spot fines."

Councillor Doug Butterill, portfolio holder for direct services, said: "Crewe and Nantwich is one of the safest places to live in this country and we want to keep it that way.

"Support from the community is vital to the success of the scheme. We hope the presence of the wardens will reassure residents, deter opportunist crime and improve the quality of life."

The local authority has allocated £100,000 from this year's budget for the community warden service with The Safer Communities Partnership Fund providing a further £50,000.