Crime falls as gang of six burglars caught
Reporter: Royton, Shaw and Crompton Area Committee by RICHAR
Date published: 21 January 2009
CATCHING six serial burglars has seen crime fall.
Area Inspector Collette Rose gave a police update, revealing that a group of six was arrested just before Christmas and charged with nearly 50 burglaries — 10 of which were in the committee’s area.
One has been sentenced to four years jail and another three-and-a-half, with sentencing yet to happen to the rest.
Insp Rose said: “These individuals attributed to the steep rise in burglaries that we saw across the neighbourhood at the latter end of the year.”
There were 444 crimes in the area between November 13 and January 5, compared to 497 in the same period the previous year.
Burglaries have fallen from 85 to 70 and anti-social behaviour from 128 to 112.
But violence has risen from 48 to 62, vehicle crime from 86 to 110 and robbery from 10 to 13.
£10m update
CONSTRUCTION work on the first phase of Royton Health and Wellbeing Centre will start in six weeks and be completed in a year.
The committee was give an update on the £10million health section of the centre, being built behind the town hall, which will house two GP practices, a pharmacy, community nurses, two dental surgeries and specialist services.
There were concerns over patients from parts of High Crompton accessing it. Councillor John Dillon asked if patients could go to the new Crompton Health Centre instead and was told it was up to them to switch.
Councillor Steven Bashforth said it would be a superb facility but complained the building was white and would look awful in a few years time.
No real answer
COUNCILLOR Steven Bashforth said he did not think there was any way planning officers could prevent more bulky retailers opening at Elk Mill Retail Park.
Resident Barry Deville said it was causing traffic to back up for miles in every direction and affecting the quality of life for a lot of residents, and called for it to be re-examined.
Councillor Bashforth said it was a vibrant and successful retail park that creates jobs but also chaos.
The volume of traffic made the area a nightmare but he doubted that anything could be done to change it. The real issue was having just one exit, he added, but he didn’t know where else it could go.
