The harsh realities of life in central Brighton

2:48pm Friday 30th March 2007

We must respond to Councillor Pennington's comments (Letters, March 26) about crime and antisocial behaviour in central Brighton.

Mr Pennington is evidently conversant with Brighton and Hove City Council's bureaucracy of ineffectual local policies on crime and antisocial behaviour but completely out of touch with the realities of life in central Brighton.

West Street is a war zone at night.

Revellers spill out from nightclubs to shout and fight in the streets while patient police officers work hard to contain the situation.

The area is littered with vomit, kebab papers and broken bottles, and young people are put in serious danger by selfish boy racers.

The police are doing a good job but the council needs to do more to improve the situation - perhaps even closing West Street to traffic at night to make it safer for revellers and easier to police.

The council does not work closely enough with local traders to fight crime. Look at how many newsagents in Regency ward have been physically attacked in recent months.

The situation has reached such a point that The Lanes traders recently formed a Business Improvement District and raised £200,000 from their own pockets to pay for, among other things, private security guards for the area.

This is in addition to already high local business rates. Mr Pennington's council is failing these independent traders, who are a cornerstone of the local economy.

If Mr Pennington were to speak to any person living adjacent to Western Road, he would hear countless stories of gangs roaming the streets at night, of drunks, of vandalism and of petty crime, all compounded by grimy streets.

As for the "local bobby at the Clock Tower", this is not a policy we advocate for expedience or for "heritage".

Having a police officer permanently stationed at the Clock Tower would give peace of mind to local people and traders.

As for homelessness, we have visited countless homeless projects around the city. It's politically correct of Mr Pennington to deny any crime stems from the high concentration of homeless hostels in central Brighton but it is simply not true.

We're sure it's a tiny minority of service users who give the rest a bad name but the solution lies in spreading help centres more evenly around the city, not denying that the problem exists.

• Michael Macfarlane and Robert S Nemeth, prospective Conservative council candidates for Regency ward

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