Express & Star comment: All thriving cities need safe streets

Wolverhampton is the latest council to announce it is taking steps to ensure the city remains a vibrant place to shop, work and live by forming a taskforce.

This is undoubtedly a big step forward when it comes to looking at the key issues that impact on the city.

At a time when the rise in internet shopping is putting the future of our high streets in jeopardy, councils are faced with a delicate balancing act when it comes to offering people a place worth visiting.

However, there is a great unspoken concern across the Black Country and Staffordshire.

If people are to come to our towns and cities they need to feel safe.

Sadly concerns over crime – particularly violent crime – will not go away.

Only this week we have seen another stabbing in broad daylight in Wolverhampton, and whether it is deserved or not, the city’s reputation often deters visitors from coming here.

There is no doubt that a great deal of positive work is being done across the city by a number of agencies, but serious challenges remain.

The closure of Beatties and the number of empty shops in the city centre are key, but so is addressing the undesirable elements that patrol the city centre almost with impunity.

These same miscreants can be found all around the region, disrupting the lives of law abiding citizens.

There appears to be no firm hand to guide them.

Highly respected councillor Milkinder Jaspal expresses the views of many in today's Express & Star when he calls for more police on our streets.

In many parts of the region it has become extremely rare to see officers on patrol, and 'community policing' has become little more than a phrase used by the top brass in their meetings.

The reality is that the link between our police force and the public is eroding, and with that comes an added threat to public safety.

It would be a great shame if all the good work to improve our towns and cities was let down by weak or non-existent policing.