Local police have responded to concerns regarding "low level drug dealing" and other crime in Biddulph and the Moorlands.

A meeting of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel last night (Monday) saw the local policing team provide councillors with their annual update on crime and policing in the area.

It gave councillors a chance to share any concerns they had with Staffordshire Police's Moorlands Chief Inspector Mark Thorley, and also to thank the police for their efforts throughout the year.

A report presented to councillors ahead of the meeting showed that crime in the Moorlands was down by 10% overall in 2020, with 407 less crimes recorded than in 2019.

Crimes across all crime groups have reduced with the exception of a few specific areas, including stalking, harassment and malicious communications. Crimes in these categories increased by 14%, with 175 more of these crimes than in 2019.

However, domestic abuse was down 3%, residential burglary was down 22%, criminal damage down 14%, thefts from motor vehicles down 34% and theft of motor vehicles down 24%.

The report also discussed a "brief series of drug related violent incidents" in Biddulph last summer.

It stated: "Those identified as being involved were targeted for searches, positive police action was taken at any incident in which they were involved, and some great partnership work was undertaken simultaneously to address vulnerability, protect children associated to the violence and where necessary remove children and evict those who failed to heed warnings that continued anti social behaviour and drug related incidents attributed to them could lead to eviction."

Chief Inspector Thorley's report also provided more insight into policing during the Coronavirus pandemic, adding: "I have asked for, and have seen, my staff take a very pragmatic and common sense approach to Covid enforcement. Our role through all of this has been to engage with the community to explain the Covid legislation, only using enforcement where necessary, a difficult balance, which I believe has been achieved in the Moorlands as well as, if not better than, most areas."

Speaking at last night's meeting, Biddulph district Cllr Nigel Yates, who is also a former Special Constable shared concerns that parts of Biddulph were "blighted with low level drug dealing".

He said: "We have got an issue in parts of Biddulph where we are blighted with low level drug dealing, which is persistent and ongoing in parts of the community.

"We are thinking of putting a bench in a part of the town we are renovating, but there has been a lot of negativity because some people feel it would be prone to drug dealing. I wonder if this is related to county lines?"

Chief Inspector Thorley responded: "There have been some issues in Biddulph, and county lines is something that has happened for many years. We used as many resources as possible to tackle this, worked with social services and families, and warned people about their antisocial behaviour.

"With regards to drug dealing, the Moorlands is better than most places in Staffordshire. We will never eradicate drugs completely but we have had great success in Biddulph so far."

Biddulph's mayor and district Cllr John Jones also thanked the police for their efforts, saying: "It's good to see that crime is down, but you would expect that with everybody staying at home. I want to say a big thank you to all the police team, as they are always very responsive."

Chief Inspector Thorley added: "We have come under criticism for our enforcement of Covid, and I never felt that was quite justified in the Moorlands, so I appreciate your thanks and I will pass it on."

To view the meeting in full, visit the district council's website here.