(Cleethorpes)
(Con):...At a recent community meeting in
Cleethorpes, chaired by the ward councillor, residents and traders
complained about vagrancy and expressed a range of concerns to
representatives from the local council, Humberside Police and Harbour
Place, which is a local outreach charity. Dave Carlisle from
Harbour Place began the meeting by highlighting that 50 people are
sleeping on the streets of north-east Lincolnshire. Sadly, that is
roughly double the number of only a year ago. It is clearly
something that needs attention and we must do all we can to tackle
the underlying problems....
...According to Thames Reach, in 80% of cases, money given pays for
a drug or alcohol addiction and the person begging is not actually
homeless. Humberside Police advised my constituents,
“to not give them anything directly, and if you want to donate to
those less fortunate please do so through reputable sources like
Harbour Place and other charities… We understand that the issue
needs to be addressed, and our officers have been out and about
everyday, with plans to further increase patrols.”...
...This could be an early success for the Minister.
Whatever the solution is, I urge her to instruct her officials to
speak to North East Lincolnshire Council, Humberside Police and others to see
whether they are content with the legislative regime, whether it
could be made more pro-active and whether further powers may be
needed. Quite reasonably, the residents and business community in
Cleethorpes are concerned about the matter. People in business
have devoted their life’s work to setting up small shops and the
like, and we urgently need to do something to help them...
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