TAUNTON Town Council attended a meeting to discuss the issue of anti-social behaviour that recently affected businesses and the community in the town centre.

The leader of the council (TTC), Cllr Tom Deakin, along with Craig Stone, the operations and events manager, were at a meeting today (8 September 2023) along with representatives from Avon and Somerset Police, Somerset Council and Taunton Chamber of Commerce and Rebecca Pow, MP for Taunton Deane.

Cllr Deakin said: “We always welcome the opportunity to exchange information with other organisations who share our aim of making Taunton a safe and desirable place to shop and socialise.

“This is a key issue for us, and we have been working hard to set up initiatives and liaise with key stakeholders to bring forward an effective improvement strategy. I feel that today’s meeting was beneficial, in that it provided an opportunity for us to share the Town Council’s progress so far on this complex issue.”

The council play an active role in bringing together town centre businesses, attending quarterly town centre meetings, and managing a Business Engagement group, for sharing information and ideas.

They actively encourage businesses to sign up to the Radio Link system, which provides a direct link to the CCTV operatives and Police.

The council arranged a meeting earlier this week, with a representative from The Castle Hotel, following the recent attack on Brazz last month to listen to their concerns and recently met officers from Avon and Somerset Police to discuss issues and share information on the topic of Under 18 Violent Crime hotspots in the town.

The Community Services Committee has recently set up a Working Group for Community, Business and PR which states as its scope, to

• Understand the portfolio of businesses in Taunton and their existing issues/concerns, including the creation of a directory;

• Work in partnership and collaboration with The Chamber of Commerce, businesses, and residents as well as Somerset Council to identify possible solutions.

To further this aim, Cllr Deakin attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting at Summerfield Developments HQ this week and was interested to hear their perspective.

The council will shortly be inviting expressions of interest from members of the public wishing to join the working group.

Next week they are meeting the CCTV team in response to repeated break-ins at The Shed café, to consider what additional cover may be appropriate for Goodland Gardens.

There is also an upcoming meeting with Pubwatch, to consider the impact of alcohol-related issues on anti-social behaviour and what steps can be taken to mitigate them.

Taunton Town Council also said “the issue of tackling anti-social behaviour in the town underpins many of our other initiatives and is one that we will continue to focus on”.