Commissioner and Chief Constable listen to concerns from Kettering town centre retailers

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone and Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet visited Kettering on Tuesday (January 20) to hear from business owners and residents about issues affecting the town centre.

The joint visit was Ivan’s first since being announced as the Commissioner’s preferred candidate for the Chief Constable role - and allowed both the opportunity to better understand neighbourhood issues and strengthen relationships with local retailers and communities.

During their visit to Kettering, the Commissioner and Chief Constable heard from retail owners at LA Top Nails, McDonald’s, Boots and Thursfields Pharmacy, all of whom said they had experienced issues involving street drinking, anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour both inside and outside their stores.

Danielle said: “Kettering is a major town centre in our county. It’s been important to come out and hear from retailers and members of the public and listen to their concerns.

“I was disappointed to hear from one person that they drove to work in the town centre at night as it felt safer, even though she only lived a five-minute walk away. Women feeling unsafe in their own neighbourhoods is not acceptable.

“If we have young people engaging in anti-social behaviour, like we do here in Kettering, then that isn’t just a policing issue. We need to be working with other agencies to prevent that behaviour happening in the first place.

“The visit has given me food for thought. I will be looking to try and get all our partner agencies around the table to talk about what action we can take together to ensure that Kettering is a thriving town centre where people feel safe when they visit.”

The Commissioner and Chief Constable were joined on the visit by staff from other agencies, including Kettering Town Council and senior staff from the Newlands Shopping Centre.

Danielle and Ivan further heard about organised retail theft at department stores and issues with drug use and dealing in the town centre.

Reflecting on the visit, Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet said: “We are growing our Neighbourhood Policing teams and today I’ve seen once again some of the excellent work they already do. Many of the issues we have mentioned cannot be solved by one agency alone, and that’s why these visits are so useful. But as Chief Constable I can listen to concerns and put things in place to try and improve our policing response even further.

“Street drinking, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting are issues we want to get to grips with, and we need to work with our retailers to achieve this. We heard from some shop owners that they didn’t report offences because they’re not sure they’re going to get an appropriate level of response. That’s disappointing, and we need to change that and put that right.”

The Commissioner and Chief Constable were accompanied by Martin Hammond, clerk at Kettering Town Council, who was able to provide more insight into some of the issues affecting the town centre.

Martin said: “It's been very useful for the Chief Constable and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner to visit the town and for us as Town Council to share our views with them.

“We already have a good relationship and we are all in agreement that the only way to make a big difference here is by working together on some shared targets. This visit today has certainly helped us in working out what those shared targets can be.”

And Scott Edwards, operations manager at Newlands Shopping Centre, added: “It’s been great for the Commissioner and the Chief Constable to speak to shopkeepers and hear from them first hand. They seem positive about what they can change in the area, and partnership working is going to be key to getting things actioned.”