POLICE, councillors and businesses have come together to tackle a ‘constant’ stream of burglaries and thefts.

It follows as many as eight thefts at the Altham Industrial Park since last October and a collective loss of more than £1million to firms based there.

The parish council and neighbourhood police have met with 16 of the estate’s business representatives, encouraging them to take a more proactive role in crime prevention.

Possible tactics to dissuade criminals from continuing to target the area, such as integrated security systems and 24-hour monitoring of the facilities were discussed.

Tony Ford, watch liaison officer for East Lancashire, said: “Because the estate is set so far away from more heavily policed urban areas, and it has such good transport links to the M65, the area is targeted by travelling criminals.

“Policing strategies don’t appear to be working, because the level of thefts we are seeing aren’t dropping.

“To tackle this we need police, the council, and the businesses themselves to put our heads together and take mutual responsibility for our area.”

Coun Rennie Pinder, chairman of the Altham parish council, spearheaded the campaign after seeing the ‘jewel of Hyndburn being ransacked on a regular basis’.

He said: “We have some very prestigious companies here.

“It’s the shop window of Hyndburn and is important to the town.

“We have to protect it, and the best way to do it is together.”

Peter Abbot, a representative for James Dewhurst Ltd, a manufacturing company based at the estate, said: “We have joined one of these initiatives before at our other site on Rossendale Industrial Estate.

“I would say it helped stave of more crime in the short term.

“But the main reason we’re here is because of our astronomical insurance costs.”