A COUNCIL leader is warning police they need to ‘up their game’ when dealing with nuisance crime in a town.

Cllr Ken Hind, the leader of Ribble Valley Council, called for greater police presence in Longridge after increasing reports of anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Hind’s calls come after residents voiced concerns about a number of ‘anti-social behaviour’ incidents involving young people.

Longridge resident Laurie Manton, 67, who set up the Facebook page Longridge Life, said: “This type of behaviour has been going for about 12 months.

“It’s the gathering of youths from the age of 11 upwards that cause bother.

“They come from Preston for the evening so they can cause problems because there is no police presence here.

“The big problem is lads 13 to 14 who spend their days clambering up on the roof of bus shelters about 20 yards from the Co-op on Berry Lane.

“I’ve also heard instances of youngsters abusing women with babies in their prams. The police need to do something about it.”

Cllr Ken Hind, who also represents the area, said: “We have bouts of trouble in Longridge and the residents are quite right to be concerned about youth anti-social behaviour.

“The problem for us is the same old story, the police are too far away from us.

“They are based in Colne and coming all the way to Longridge. We have expressed our concerns about it many times.

“The deputy commissioner is coming to the town council on Wednesday and will be told in no uncertain terms that the commissioner and police have to up their game in relation to Longridge.”

Mark Shepherd, Longridge police community support officer, said: “The question of policing is not determined by us but by Lancashire police.

“I’m assuming Longridge is perceived as not a particularly high impact area of crime and that’s how the policing levels are determined.

“Youth anti-social behaviour is a problem that is fairly high on the list of concerns for people. There are groups of kids that can be a bit loud and rowdy.

“If it’s something that we deem as out of control of anything like that we try to manage them as best as we can.”

Longridge Town Council’s will discuss the issue a its next meeting at the Station Buildings, Berry Lane, tomorrow at 7pm.