Labour have blocked the appointment of a new Community Ranger patrol contractor. After 10 years the mobile security patrols have disappeared from Westfield’s Streets.
Residents are not even being given the opportunity to vote for the continuation of the patrols as the option does not appear on this years Ward Committee ballot paper which was delivered to householders a couple of weeks ago.(Instead there are a plethora of applications for grants to organisations many of which don’t even have a presence in the area).
Time and time again security and action to reduce crime levels have topped residents priority lists. The resulting action – including the Ranger patrols – has been a drop in crime to record low levels.
Now that progress is being put in jeopardy as Westfield is dragged down to the same level as Wards like Heworth where patrols were scrapped, by the Councillors there, a few years ago.
The last Ranger contractor went into administration at the beginning of the year and Council officials were asked to find a local replacement. The main duty of the Rangers – who patrolled the area in vehicles fitted with mobile CCTV cameras – was to secure vulnerable locations such as playgrounds at nightfall. Many of these areas are now being left open with vandalism and late night noise a growing issue.
This is a very short sighted policy and it is little short of outrageous that residents are being denied the chance to vote for continuation of the patrols. Sadly it appears to be another example of the current regimes indifference to residents views.

Westfield security patrols being launched in 2001