Full report: Lancaster businesses meet to discuss anti-social behaviour and shoplifting in the city

Lancaster BID's breakfast meeting at The Kings Arms Hotel on January 16 focused on anti-social behaviour and crime within the city centre, with a panel responding to questions from business owners.

The meeting follows an "upsurge" of anti-social behaviour in the city centre in January, but BID representatives said the meeting had been planned for three months.

Nick Wilkinson, business owner and chair of Lancaster BID, said: "I'm very aware of the issues having worked in Lancaster all my life and seeing things progressively getting worse.

"This session was to hear about what businesses have experienced around anti-social behaviour, and to let people know that a lot of work is already underway."

Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw outlined cuts to policing over the last 10 years.

He pointed out that Lancashire Constabulary had lost £86m from its policing budget, along with 750 officers.

He said: "When I rock up into the shopping centre in Lancaster, what you're going to say to me is 'more bobbies'.

"We know that crime is on the increase - violent crime, knife crime, homicides.

"There have been 30 homicides in Lancashire over the last year, and we budget for 12.

"The police receive 1.1m calls a year to its 101 and 999 numbers, so it's important to understand the pressure on the service.

"For our contact managers, it's always a judgement call on every single call they take.

"Social care and youth services have been taken away, and the average time it takes to deal with calls has gone up by a third.

"You have to put these things into context.

"But there is light at the end of the tunnel. This year we increased the (council tax) police precept and this has resulted in 40-50 extra officers.

"The big question is how can we engage and work together. We have a collective responsibility to make this work."

Sgt Lindsay Brown, of Lancaster Police told the meeting that a special task force of officers has been present in the city centre for the last few weeks.

This has included mounted police.

He said: "In January we saw an upsurge in juvenile anti social behaviour. We've had mounted police in Market Square, and we'll have this presence for a month.

"Long term solutions include a criminal behaviour order on one of the shoplifters who I'm sure many of you will know, which will seek to ban that individual from entering the city centre."

Paul Smith, manager at St Nic's Arcade, said: "I think this will make a big difference. We've noticed a lack of police around the city centre and a lack of response.

"So the increase in police presence will make a big difference to business. Shoplifting is a daily occurrence."

Issues for business owners included police response to thefts under £500. Sgt Brown said that officers had to prioritise and would be sent to the jobs with the highest risk.

He compared the risks involved with attending someone attempting to take their own life versus a shoplifting offence.

But he stressed that business owners should still report every incident.

The manager at Boots in St Nic's said the figures on shoplifting weren't representative of reality.

She said that the shop had "almost stopped reporting" shoplifting offences because of the lack of response and said the shop lost thousands of pounds a week due to shoplifting.

She added: "We should start reporting everything. Then you would understand what a massive problem this is. We need to highlight what is happening in the town."