THE POLICE and crime commissioner (PCC) as well as an inspector were quizzed by councillors over anti-social behaviour plaguing a Flintshire town. 

The North Wales PCC Andy Dunbobbin and Flintshire South inspector Iwan Jones attended a Buckley Town Council meeting on Tuesday night. 

It follows recent claims by the town's mayor that "people are afraid to go out" in the town due to anti-social behaviour issues. 

The common problems include large gatherings of "intimidating" youths near the town centre Spar store, vandalism to public toilets, criminal damage to shop fronts and dangerous e-scooter use within the Precinct Shopping Centre.

Another issue raised by councillors at the meeting was "anti-social" parking outside schools at pick-up and drop-off times. 

Cllr Dennis Hutchinson said: "The problems [with parking] outside our schools are enormous, but very rarely do I see a police officer there.

"I've seen cars parked on the level crossing outside Mountain Lane school, and quite frankly it's a disgrace.

"Every day you'll see it and there seems to be an attitude of 'well, it's just one of those things and there's nothing we can do about it'. We need to see PCSOs or police constables patrolling outside schools at these times."

MORE NEWS: 

Mr Dunbobbin said he'd attended Flintshire Council's joint education and environment scrutiny meeting in March where the matter was discussed at length. 

He said he had spoken to the London Borough Council of Redbridge - which has created clean air zones, known as School Streets, around some of its schools. 

Redbridge School Streets prevent non-residential vehicle traffic from outside the zone from entering School Street zones and travelling past schools during school start and finish times, during term time only.

"It's a really interesting idea, and one which we could consider developing here," Mr Dunbobbin said. 

He also encouraged people to engage in Operation Snap - which sees members of the public submit photo evidence to the police of road traffic offences.

"Operation Snap is a here and now measure we can use to help police deal with these issues," Mr Dunbobbin said. 

Cllr Carol Ellis raised the issue of youths on e-scooters who "terrorise" people in the Buckley shopping precinct - many of whom are elderly. 

Mr Dunbobbin replied: "What the Chief Constable (Amanda Blakeman) has said is that officers will make a determination on who the driver is and whether they're known to local officers, and which kind of pedestrians are around. 

"The officer has to take these things into account when deciding how to respond to people on e-scooters and bikes."

He added: "I'm committed to working alongside elected members to help resolve these issues and make Buckley a safer environment for everyone."

Regarding anti-social behaviour issues at the public toilets in the town, inspector Iwan Jones said: "We're up to several prosecutions for the damage at the toilets," adding: "There's a lot of work that's gone on, but there's a lot of work that we still need to do."

Mr Dunbobbin added that the police also have the power to enforce closure orders on properties affected by persistent anti-social behaviour, as well temporary dispersal orders. 

"There is also the Community Trigger scheme, which gives victims of anti-social behaviour the chance to initiate an ASB Case Review through the local authority," Mr Dunbobbin said.

"This has been designed to give you, the victim, the right to demand that agencies deal with persistent anti-social behaviour."