AN Oldham MP is calling for police hubs across the borough to clampdown on anti-social behaviour.

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon is backing Labour’s calls for the Government to invest in new police hubs in neighbourhoods across the country.

It comes as analysis by the party shows a staggering 1.2 million incidents of nuisance are recorded in England and Wales every year - equating to more than 20,000 incidents every single week and over 3,300 every single day.

Mr McMahon is adamant there has been a serious and growing failure to use anti-social behaviour powers to keep communities across Chadderton, Oldham and Royton safe.

The hubs would bring together a Neighbourhood Prevention Team made up of police, community support officers, local authority staff and youth workers and would prioritise being visible on patrols and easily accessible for residents.

The teams would pursue serial perpetrators of anti-social behaviour or low-level crime, as well as dealing with visible signs of disorder such as broken windows, graffiti, fly-tipping, or drug dealing.

Mr McMahon said: "All too often people across Oldham feel like justice has left town, we’ve seen both our courts close, we don’t have a single custody cell in the entire borough, we’ve lost police stations across our town and Greater Manchester Police have lost over one thousand officers since the Tories came to power a decade ago.

“We see right here in Oldham how local Tories line up to make political gain out of the pain caused by the decisions of their government. You can’t force a police station close and then campaign about combatting rising crime.”

In response, a Government spokesperson said: “Beating crime is the government’s number one priority. We are recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers by March 2023, we are increasing funding for policing by up to £1.1 billion and we are giving the police the powers and tools they need to stop crimes happening in the first place.

“There has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of police officers carrying out neighbourhood policing roles since March 2019. 

“Our communities are safer. You are less likely to be a victim of gun or knife crime, less likely to have your house broken into, and less likely to be a victim of car crime. We know that the pandemic has had an effect on crime, but we are determined to build on the reductions we have seen.”