Call for More Funding for PCSOs to Revive Fortunes of Wrexham City Centre

A call has been made for more funding for police community support officers (PCSOs) as part of £20m plans to revive the fortunes of Wrexham city centre.

Senior councillors met yesterday (Monday, 29 July) to discuss how money from the UK Government’s Long-Term Plan for Towns scheme will be spent in the area over the next ten years.

It follows a report being published which show how issues such as crime and poor transport links are causing people living in Wrexham to spend tens of millions of pounds in other places.

The document backed by members of the Wrexham City Board, which includes community and business leaders, will serve as a business case to secure government investment

It includes figures which highlight how the city’s crime rate is nearly double the Welsh average at 181 incidents per 1,000 of the population.

Measures proposed to address the issue include introducing city centre wardens to provide a uniformed presence and reassurance for members of the public.

However, Labour opposition group leader Dana Davies questioned whether funding to reduce crime would be better directed towards increasing the number of PCSOs.

She said: “There’s a lot of talk in the report about town centre wardens, but there’s no talk about PCSOs.

“If we’re investing in wardens, there might be an opportunity to invest in PCSOs.

“Instead of moving the problem around the town, they can actually deal with crime in partnership with North Wales Police, because we’re all limited on resources across all of the public sector organisations.”

The most frequent crimes reported in the city centre in 2023 were violence without injury (2,101 incidents), theft and handling (1,675), and anti-social behaviour (1,443).

Wrexham Bus Station and the Crescent Road area were flagged as the main hotspots for anti-social behaviour, with general crime most prevalent on a section of the High Street near nightspots on Town Hill and Abbot Street.

The local authority previously funded a number of PCSO roles in the city centre.

However, financial support was removed last year, with the council blaming budget cuts for the “extremely difficult decision”.

Council leader Mark Pritchard said proposals were included as part of the £20m fund which could see improvements to CCTV systems in the area.

He said: “With the policing issue, we’ve had a meeting this morning with North Wales Police with regards to wardens, policing and anti-social behaviour and that’s ongoing. One of the top themes here is safety and security.

“With regard to the PCSOs, I think that’s up to the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner to sit down and discuss it with the board.

“You could also bring CCTV into the conversation, because I know it was one of the priorities of the Police and Crime Commissioner when he went for election that he wanted to improve the CCTV.”

Plaid Cymru group leader Marc Jones, who represents an area on the edge of the city centre, said there were many positive developments taking place in Wrexham.

In particular, he praised the multi-million pound redevelopment of the city’s markets and the opening of the new Chapter Court retail and leisure complex in April.

The Grosvenor ward councillor also stressed the importance of achieving value for money and receiving police input into the plans.

Rachel Clacher, chair of the city board and co-founder of phone answering firm Moneypenny, said there were many reasons for optimism about the area’s future.

She told the meeting: “In my initial conversations, there’s a realisation that so many good and exciting things are going on in Wrexham.

“We worked to a very tight deadline to create this plan and once it’s gone in, we can then get on with the important business of learning from the experts that we have on our board and within our city.

“That will involve learning from the police about where they would want money to be spent.

“We really believe that having a thriving, vibrant city centre is a good thing for Wrexham, and will bring new opportunities and new excitement to the city centre.”

In terms of transport, the document shows improvements will be made to walking and cycle routes, as well as enhancing local bus services.

Executive board members approved the submission of the plan to the UK Government ahead of Thursday’s (August 1, 2024) deadline.

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter