MEMBERS of Bromsgrove District Council took part in a fiery debate over knife crime on Wednesday night after a motion from Labour’s Luke Mallett.
Coun Mallett asked the chamber to put pressure on Worcestershire County Council chiefs who he said, over the years, had made ‘severe cuts’ to youth services.
Coun Mallett said: “We need the county council to reinstate funding for publicly funded youth services in the district and to support initiatives in education to keep knives out of school.
“There’s a clear correlation between our youth services being gutted and the increase in national knife crime.
“Nearly £400million has been cut since 2010 and to make matters worse there are less police officers on the street.
“Bromsgrove has not been affected as badly as places like Birmingham but I think it’s important we intervene quickly to make sure it remains that way and we keep our residents safe.”
Coun Mallett asked the chamber to accept his motion, which involved inviting Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion to address the chamber’s concerns.
But the Tories decided to amend the motion, asking for Mr Javid and Mr Campion to be speak only via letter rather than in person.
They agreed to speak to Worcestershire County Council about the ongoing knife problem but to avoid specifically asking about cuts to youth services as they felt it’s not the reason why the crime is on the up.
Conservative Leader Coun Geoff Denero said: “I’ve spoke to police officers and they say the drugs trade, car thefts and the ‘fist fight’ becoming a knife fight are the three reasons we are seeing a major increase.”
Both parties did however agree to revisit its own funding for youth projects in Bromsgrove after the elections and to encourage its partners to support knife crime reduction programmes in the area.
