The police and Ashfield Council have failed to keep Sutton residents safe.

I have lost count the number of times I have met with Nottinghamshire Police and Ashfield Council and raised the issue of crime and anti-social behaviour in Sutton town centre, and yet nothing has improved.

Reform UK Member of Parliament for Ashfield, Lee Anderson MP

Media interest this week has highlighted these issues again, but Sutton residents and businesses have been forced to endure this for years now.

The police did implement a 48-hour dispersal order, but what good will that do if they can simply come back after two days?

I visited the town centre during this 48-hour order and, to nobody’s surprise, I witnessed some criminal behaviour.

What was surprising however, after 10 minutes the police and CPOs arrived.

But instead of arresting the individuals, they simply moved them on and made excuses.

Residents contact me on a daily basis having pleaded with the police and Ashfield Council to stop the crimewave that is scourging Sutton town centre.

Businesses have closed or relocated and workers in the town centre are too frightened to commute before and after their shift.

They are told that the police are aware of the situation but nothing changes.

Many shop elsewhere as they are too scared to go to the town centre.

Women and girls walk the streets in fear, parents are telling their daughters which streets they should not walk down.

I secured £550,000 in Government funding from the Safer Streets Fund, yet this issue has not improved.

In fact, it only appears to be getting worse.

On top of the £62.6m that I also secured, the town has never known it so bad.

This once vibrant town is now a magnet for addicts and criminals.

It is totally intolerable that on an almost daily basis we see people in balaclavas, fights, drunken behaviour, open drug-taking, nuisance bikes and intimidating groups loitering in the town.

They attack people, they verbally abuse people, they rob, shout and swear.

People deserve to be able to go about their daily life without fear or discomfort from this unacceptable behaviour.

It is like a scene out of a horror movie.

The perpetrators are known to police, many of us know who they are.

Why are the police not arresting these criminals?

Why are people allowed to take drugs openly with needles hanging out their arms in front of school children?

Would this have been allowed to happen 40 years ago, or even 15 years ago?

No, it would not.

This situation has been allowed to go on for far too long.

The police and the council have unequivocally failed in their role to keep us safe.

It is a disgrace and a total failure of policing in Ashfield.

What the town centre needs is daily patrols and adequate policing with arrests and prosecutions.

We urgently need to see greater enforcement as this cannot be allowed to carry on.

I soon have yet another meeting scheduled with the police, so I hope that this week's events and renewed pressure prompts some definitive action to turn things around.