Concern raised over Largs crime levels at community council

Concern over crimes including break-ins, shoplifting, vandalism and dog mess on pavements were raised at the latest meeting of Largs Community Council (LCC).

The number of arrests made by local police for alleged breaches of bail conditions was also brought up, for the second LCC meeting in a row.

Community councillor Jamie Black said: “There is a problem. We need to make the message clear, to stop using Largs as a dumping ground for such people.

“When I was on another community council a few years ago we had a similar problem, and Inverclyde Council were great. They took the problem away and drove it right down.

“There were no more than five breaches of bail last year and we are now getting around five a month.”

Margaret Wood, who sits on the LCC police sub-committee, said: “There seems to be an increase in instances of shoplifting and house break-ins which have jumped up tremendously.

Sgt Fisher addressed concerns raised by audience at Largs Community Council meeting (Image: Newsquest)

“It is bad enough just now but when the weather kicks in we hope the area is being policed."

Sergeant Donald Fisher from Police Scotland in Largs said: "We have been a bit busier, and with the summer, people have been out and about a bit more.

"We have been holding tasking meetings and planning what we are doing over the weekends, from targeting pubs to anti-social areas where we regularly get calls.

"We do look at where we expect issues to be, and police those issues."

A member of the public attending the meeting said: “I was at court yesterday after an attempted break-in incident at my property. My car has been damaged, and there is dog poo everywhere on the pavement outside where I live. It feels to me that things have been going downhill rapidly.

"There were several police all at court yesterday, and that, to my mind, was a waste of police resources. That could all have been addressed before it went to court.”

Councillor Tom Marshall (Conservative, North Coast) said North Ayrshire Council was required to provide accommodation to people who were homeless but that the authority does not look at the behaviour of those people before allocating housing.

Cllr Marshall also said NAC owns a number of properties in the area which are used as emergency accommodation.

Margaret Wood voiced concerns over crime spike (Image: Newsquest)

He added: “Unfortunately society in general is deteriorating.”

Cllr Ian Murdoch (Independent, North Coast) suggested that LCC invite North Ayrshire’s head of housing to a future meeting.

A spokesperson for the North Ayrshire health and social care partnership (HSCP) said: “While we are unable to comment on individual arrangements, all applications for housing are considered on a case-by-case basis and dealt with sensitively.

“However, when rehousing those who are assessed to be of potential risk to the public, including sexual or more violent offenders, the HSCP and the council work closely with a number of agencies, including Police Scotland, NHS Ayrshire and Arran and the Scottish Prison Service, to carry out a complex and thorough risk assessment prior to any decisions being taken on where an offender should be housed.

“These arrangements are in place across all localities in North Ayrshire.

“A number of additional safeguards can also be deployed, including electronic tagging, curfews, sexual offence prevention orders and other civil orders, with a shared aim of reducing the risk of harm to the wider population."