By Ralph Barnett

FOUR ARBROATH councillors—representing the full spectrum of political allegiance in the town—are to make a joint approach to police in a bid to address what they say is the ever-increasing range of problems arising from drink and drug-fuelled anti-social behaviour.

Independent member David Fairweather has joined forces with Tory Jim Millar, Lib Dem Peter Neild and nationalist Donald Morrison to present a unified front after all were contacted by residents appealing for help in coping with what he described as “a rising tide of lawlessness, disrespect and criminality.”

Speaking on behalf of the foursome, Mr Fairweather said yesterday, “Judging by the calls, letters and Emails I and my fellow Arbroath councillors have been getting, the situation with anti-social behaviour, in all its forms, in Arbroath is just about getting completely out of hand.

“We will be meeting with Inspector Donald Scobie and Inspector Ron McNaughton shortly to discuss what the police, the local authority and the general public can do to address these very real problems and, to that end, I believe it is very important that the four of us will be adopting a non-political stance.

“This issue is far too important for everyone in Arbroath to be used for political point-scoring and we would also like to stress that, in calling for the meeting, we are in no way being critical of the police.

“Tayside Police, we believe, do the best they can to prevent these problems and deal with them as they arise but we also appreciate that they have restricted resources through no fault of the officers on the ground.

“We are not going to be asking the two officers what more they will be doing to deal with underage drinking and other types of antisocial behaviour but rather we will be asking them what we, as elected members, and the wider Arbroath community can do to assist them in that task.”

Mr Fairweather said his own knowledge of the issues raised by members of the public had been expanded by a recent night-time tour of known trouble-spots—when he saw for himself the chaos generated by groups of young people congregating to consume alcohol—and by and incident earlier this week.

He said, “Somewhat ironically, I had been at an event at the Cafe Project when Sheriff Norrie Stein was speaking about moves to deal with problems which had been identified in the Mayfield area by our Community Wardens, and I thought what he was saying was absolutely terrific.

“After the reception I was making my way home via the West Port and Keptie Street when I came across two rather drunk young lads who were engaged in an altercation with a chap in his 50s.

“I intervened and, with the help of the more sensible of the lads, managed to calm his friend down and said I would walk up the road with them a bit just to defuse the situation.

“Once they started chatting they were fine with me—it was clear that they had just had far too much to drink and couldn’t handle it—and one of them, who was just 15, even told me where he had bought his drink.

“I, of course, have now passed this information on to the police and, as a result, a local off-licence can expect a visit to discuss their alcohol sales policy.

“If I hadn’t come along when I did I have little doubt that the verbal confrontation would have escalated into a physical one and that is the sort of situation that is always going to arise when you have young people drinking on the streets.”

Of worry is the content of a letter Mr Fairweather received from one resident.

It reads, “I am writing to you concerning the current situation in the area of vandalism, drunken gangs of youths and intolerable fights around closing time at the local nightclubs.

“This past weekend alone my car had its wing mirror ripped off while parked in the car port, I had to clean up sickness which was all over the front entrance to my block, I witnessed several fights and arguments and I saw several people relieve themselves, despite them seeing me walk into the building with my dog.

“Teenagers and some even younger maraud around the area and fight, shout and argue continuously and they hide in the corners of the car ports—where they can’t be seen by the CCTV cameras—to smoke, drink and take drugs.

“This is no exaggerations as I have two teenagers of my own who are only too aware of exactly what is going on.

“The drainpipe was even ripped off the side of the building and used as a weapon in a fight!”

Mr Fairweather said, “I have no doubts that what this lady is saying is true and, as it appears to be almost the norm in some areas of the town, things have clearly gone too far.

“The time has come, I believe, for everyone who has the best interests of Arbroath at heart to stand up and be counted and, rather than just complaining that the council or the police or whoever aren’t doing enough, ask themselves what they can do to help.

“This problem won’t just go away if we ignore it and our forthcoming meeting with the police will, I hope, be an important first step towards reaching a solution.”