Street-level crimes are becoming a growing concern in Swindon with anti-social behaviour, possession of weapons and County Lines drug dealing blighting the town's streets.

Now, Central Swindon Parish Council has launched a new initiative to help combat these crimes by encouraging everyone, especially young people, to report any criminal activity they see.

Youth and community worker Aaron Webb agreed that there were ongoing issues with certain types of crime in the area.

"We see a lot of anti-social behaviour, cuckooing and County Lines drug dealing and weapon carrying.

"It's off-putting for people in the community - young people and people in general," he said

"There's obviously a lot of incidents that go on and there are members of the community that are trying to make it a safer environment for everyone and that's what the parish council is trying to do here."

Teaming up with Crimestoppers, the authority that manages Moredon, Pinehurst, Penhill, Ferndale, Gorse Hill and Rodbourne, has graffitied the pavement around Pinetrees to spread more awareness about the service the independent charity provides.

Regional manager at Crimestoppers Emily Van der Lely said: “I am delighted to be working in partnership with the Central Swindon North Parish Council to raise awareness of our youth service Fearless, which is part of our independent charity.

"We know, for a variety of reasons, it can be difficult to challenge or report crime. However, young people can give crime information 100% anonymously via Fearless.org. No personal information is ever taken, requested or stored.

“The reverse artwork is environmentally friendly and designed to inform and remind young people about our service, which is tailored for them. We want young people to know that they can speak up about crime anonymously anytime of the day or night.

"We would ask that they include as much detail as possible and if they don’t know of a relevant address, they can always use ‘What Three Words’.

“Fearless sanitizes all information received, to protect the identity of the person passing on the details, before securely passing it onto the relevant law enforcement organisation.

Adam added that he is aware that people in the community have multiple concerns about reporting crimes

"I've definitely spoken to young people and other members of the community who witness crimes and aren't sure if they should report them, or they're scared about what might happen if they do."

Parish councillor James Yeowell further explained the benefits of the campaign.

"There are many reasons why someone might be reluctant or unsure about calling the police if they see a crime," he said.

"They might not trust the police or might have had a bad experience with them in the past, they might be worried about reporting on someone they know and might be scared about some form of retaliation, or they might be involved in criminal activity themselves and worried about getting in trouble.

A community meeting was held at Moredon last week with parish councillor Will Stone and representatives of Wiltshire police attending to address concerns about rising anti-social behaviour there.

Recently released police figures, from November 2021, show that across the central north Swindon area 263 incidents of street level crime were reported.

Of those, Anti-social behaviour was reported 45 times, arson 32 times, all types of theft 41 times, and violent crime 92 times.