War declared on late-night thugs

A CLAMPDOWN on drunken late night brawls and violent crime in Tonbridge town centre is being launched.

Scuffles and fights fuelled by weekend drinking sessions have been highlighted as a priority issue by the borough's Community Safety Partnership.

The group, made up of bodies, including the borough and county councils, police, fire brigade and probation service, has laid down an action plan.

But one of the town's police does not believe Tonbridge has a problem with night time violence and residents have shared his views that it is a safe place.

The partnership's plan sets out how it is going to tackle priority issues, such as anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse, in a bid to drive down crime figures.

Despite there being a 6.8 per cent drop in night time economy violence – defined as Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8pm – 4am – it says it is still a "concern" and states there has been a 7 per cent increase in reports of drunken behaviour.

It also says violent crime in public places, much of which is linked to alcohol consumption, accounts for 40 per cent of violent crime in the borough, and 26 per cent of residents thought drunk or rowdy people were a problem.

Among its plans to crack down on this behaviour is the expansion of the Pub Watch scheme, deploying CCTV and introduction of Street Pastors, where church volunteers patrol the streets on weekends.

Jon Turtle, Tonbridge neighbourhood sergeant, did not think occurrences of night time violence were a problem, however, and said police patrols were already in place at weekends to deal with violence.

He said: "It fluctuates but I don't think it's increasing. I'm regularly out and very rarely see any problems. Alcohol-fuelled people can cause problems but nothing of any significant note.

"There is a problem generated by night time economy, which is inevitable, and obviously we'd like it to be zero, but that's not going to be the case, but regarding it being perceived as a problem, I wouldn't suggest it was."

Revellers leaving the SOS nightclub in Avebury Avenue could sometimes cause a disturbance, but he said he thought the town's drinking holes were run well and the Pubwatch scheme was effective.

"I always tell people Tonbridge is a nice place to live," he added, "I think we have got quite low levels of crime in Tonbridge and the perception people have of police and the local council is quite a positive one."

Karen Broad, 41, from Rembrandt Close described Tonbridge as having a "village community."

The mum-of-two said: "I feel quite safe here. Where we are it's quite a community really with Neighbourhood Watch and everything else and we all look out for each other."

Do you think late-night violence is a problem in Tonbridge? Have you experienced it yourself? Tell us what you think at www.thisiskent.co.uk/westkent